Up north it is possible to go about daily business with heaps of snow. Driving over the powder is much easier than driving through the slush we have down here. Each day, the temperatures rise just enough to let the snow melt and compress on the roads. Each night the temps drop and freeze it to the point that people can literally ice skate in the streets (happened today). Compound these bipolar weather effects with a lack of wintry mix experience, and all hell breaks loose.
I know the rest of the country is having a ball making fun of the South at our expense (again). CNN went so far as posting pictures of a local Wal-Mart with empty shelves, with the headline that Georgia was bracing for the snowstorm and there was a mad dash to stock up. The reality was that the deli section was simply being restocked that night (as they do each week). The truth was not a manic rush to buy everything and stock up. That's TV news sources for ya.