But baby, it's cold outside

I'm a little delayed here, but since we're getting another dusting in Washington this morning, I'd just like to highlight Eugene Robinson's Defense of Snow Wimps from last week:

I, too, am happy to poke fun (or lean on my horn, should I happen to be behind the wheel) at my fellow Washingtonian when a few wayward flakes slow traffic to a crawl. But I very much appreciate Robinson's defense of our defensive winter impulses in the face of Midwestern/New England braggadocio, and his geography lessons for the Capitol's new Chicago transplants (ahem, dismissive Barack):

"Washington, unlike Chicago, is situated at a meteorological and geological borderline. The nation’s capital is where north meets south and piedmont meets coastal plain. Chicago is where north meets farther north and flat water meets flatter land. These distinctions have consequences. Chicago is far enough north that winter precipitation is likely to be pure snow, and if it’s snowing on the Northside, it’s almost surely snowing on the Southside as well. Washington’s winter storms tend to bring a bit of everything, depending on where you live -- snow, rain, sleet, freezing rain. And, yes, ice. The streets can be fine around the White House and utterly impassable just a few miles away... when the street is covered with a smooth, reflective sheet of ice, as it was this morning, I doubt that even Todd Palin could manage it in one of his “snow machines.

Merci, Eugene, for pointing that out in such a polite and edifying way.
Far more gracious than my usual "yeah, but one time they didn't close the schools and a girl fell on the ice and died!" argument.