Submitted by nowfromhell t3_10lf0w8 in vermont
Ok, just moved up here this year and I'm getting used to the weather. I was talking to my family back home and I said it's "snowing to beat hell," which... not a phrase.
We say "Raining to beat hell," back home to indicate that it's raining very hard. What do you say to indicate that it's snowing really hard.
Bonus phrase: Raining like a cow pissing on flat rock.
Welcome, newbie.
“Snowing like crazy” is what we say.
Though you didn’t ask, Here are my best winter tips:
Snow can happen anytime from about December 1st through May 1st, typically with melting in between. Dates and accumulation can vary widely year to year. A dusting to 3” is fairly common. Three feet happens very rarely but can happen.
Don’t put salt on your driveway, it’s hard on your pup’s paws and kills plants.
Snow tires are much safer. Not everyone can afford them.
Shovel out your dryer vent, your oil fill pipe, your mail box, and a path for your meter (if it’s not automated).
Never sit in your car with the engine on and windows up in snow if your exhaust pipe is not shoveled out.
Best to shovel snow before it freezes. You will shovel your driveway then a plow will come along and create a barrier. You get to shovel that too. There are times when shoveling is a waste of time because it will melt soon.
Get a scraper to get ice off your car window. If your car is not garaged, flip your windshield wipers up in the air when snow/ice are in the forecast (or all the time), that will prevent them from getting frozen in place.
It’s dangerous to drive around with snow/ice on the roof, hood, trunk of your car.
Give snow plows plenty of space.
Have a power outage kit with a battery radio, some candles and matches, etc. you can find a full list online. If the power has been out for a days, and you can afford it, just go check-in to a hotel.
Have some lock de-icer available.
Get some high-quality hot chocolate, (maybe chocolate liqueur, peppermint schnapps, or coffee liqueur to add to it), Netflix, a cozy blanket, Heat Trapper socks, Yak Trax, water-proof boots, thermal-lined gloves, and a sled.
Find a winter sport you love.
Take some photos.
Don’t eat dirty snow. Melt some in a glass, you’ll see why.
When you drive, leave more space between you and the car in front of you. Don’t freak out. You’ll be ok. Don’t be the fastest car on the road nor the slowest. Side roads tend to be slipperier than highways. Bridges freeze first. Black ice is no joke but it’s rare. You really can’t do a whole lot to avoid it except stay home if possible if the weather forecasters are predicting it. Use your brakes a little less. The accelerator (gently) can help grip the road.
Find yourself a scarf, hat, stones, carrot and sticks and make a snow man, catch a snowflake in your mouth, have a snow ball fight, make snow angels. Find a sleigh ride. Look on line for photos of individual snow flakes (close-up), each one is unique.
Keep kitty litter in your trunk. You can use that for traction if you get stuck.
Go easy on shoveling. A lot more heart attacks during snow storms from over-exertion.
Ask around where the best sledding hill is and go. Doesn’t matter what age you are. This is a must.
Welcome to winter. Real winter.
i say snowing like a mf
Thanks, there was a lot in there I would never have considered.
We definitely feel like the newbies now. Winter took it easy on us the first month or two, but it's making up for it now.
We've been sledding a couple times now, and it really is part of why we wanted to live here. The kids love it, and so do we.
Everyone I know is asking how we're dealing with the weather, and it's not easy, but it's beautiful. Like. Jaw dropping, awe-inspiring, magical, I've started running out of adjectives. Don't even get me started on the fall colors.
Vermont is a literal and figurative breath of fresh air.
Once we get the winter thing figured all the way, this place is a postcard.
"Fuckin A it's snowing again"
This. Or snowing like a sonofabitch (crucially all one word)
Magical it is.
Some. As in "Some snowing out." "Some raining out."
We say “dumping”
😀 If what to say when it’s snowing has you curious, mud season is gonna really get ya. “Which rut leads home today?”
For us, when we talk to the Oklahoma relatives we just say “it’s snow”. Blizzard, 3 feet an hour, 1/2 inch total or dusting, doesn’t matter. They don’t have the frame of reference to understand. Now if I talk about how it iced over, they want more details cause that’s winter down there.
Yeah, I'm a Texan, so I'm used to ice. We just stay home for a day or two until the ice melts... I'm guessing I'd be home for more than a day or two up here...
You're the real MVP. I will second the meter comment: most utilities would love to get you a smart meter for two reasons alone: it's time and risk for a human to check it, mid-winter. If you know hold outs who are worried the government is spying on have silly reasons: smack them upside the head!
My sweet little grandmother always called snow “white shit”. I’m keeping it going Nana!
Bravo. That is one great post.
Snowing heavy as fuck.
If you're indoors there is the obligatory "It's really coming down out there" which works for rain and snow.
This person must live in Burlington. I’d like to NEK this and says snow can happen any time from 9/1-6/15 each year. Accumulating snow can happen any time from 9/15-6/1 or so.
Growing up high elevation in the kingdom, we would have our first frost each year in late august and never made it to 10/1 without the first snowfall of the year. Usually the snow was there to stay by youth weekend in early November. I remember trick or treating in snow storms 25 years ago. Snow fell in May each year though June only 1-2 times.
It's puking or it's nuking
That could be a new phrase. Keep saying it and see if it catches on.
Snowing wicked hard
Welcome!! Happy to hear your already enjoying winter with sledding and getting outside with the kids. It really is the best thing to do during the winter months (when safe to do so!)
Haha, the past week I've been keeping my windshield wipers up constantly. It's been a while since I've done that!
Dumping, nuking, coming DOWN out there
Looks like the end of Scarface out there.
+1 for dumping out.
Well this year you can just say "It's Friday"
I'm not coming in.
Ahahah. Also good.
I want to know where this phrase comes from... nuking like nuclear winter? But puking?
If the people you’re talking to understand “snowing to beat hell,” no reason you can’t say it. But there isn’t a local go-to that’s quite the equivalent of a “raining cats and dogs.” “Dumping” is a pretty close snow equivalent of “pouring” or “pouring rain.” I’ve always lived in snowy climates (here and in Canada) and mostly just use phrases like “snowing hard,” “coming down fast,” “piling up out there.”
I have always used "HOT DAMN, IT'S REALLY COMING DOWN. SON. OF. A. BITCH. THAT IS A LOT OF SNOW. CHILDREN! DOGS! AVEC MOI! LET US GO FROLIC."
In my experience these are skier terms and fall into a category of kind of casual jargon/slang. Nuclear winter sounds plausible to me, though! So maybe more of a folk origin than anything else. I'm totally guessing though tbh.
No one mentioned the “it’s a nor’easter” which is a term for a very large winter storm in this region
Source: born and raised 4th generation Vermonter
Oh! I've heard that one in the wild, I wasn't really sure the meaning.
Ah, interesting. The skier component adds another layer of colloquialisms.
Avec moi?
>nor’easter
That is a broadly used term. It is called that because of their northeasterly winds..
It is a specific type of storm and though the word sounds like something a yokel would say it is a real term.
>A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use of the term in North America is associated with storms that impact the upper north Atlantic coast of the United States and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Typically, such storms originate as a low-pressure area that forms within 100 miles (160 km) of the shore between North Carolina and Massachusetts.
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Pidgin French for "WITH ME!" Around here, we didn't grow up watching Spanish language children's TV, it was French. CBC to the north. I made the mistake of taking both French and Spanish in school, and now I mix both of them, and feel like a moron.
I have a coworker who I recently found out says “it’s pouring snow.”
Nah, you suck it up and get right out there. Yee-haw!
Try cross country skiing. VERY low barrier to entry, cheaper than downhill, you don’t need to drive to a mountain to do it, et cetera.
Especially if you've just come indoors.
accepteverything t1_j5wegij wrote
It's a whiteout