The U.S. has comparable north/south snow experiences. I live in North Texas now, and the most snow I've seen here over the last 20 years is about six inches, and that is extremely rare. Usually every couple of years we get an ice storm or enough snow that the kids get a snow day. When snow is that uncommon municipalities aren't heavily invested in snow removal or treatment equipment, so they accommodate it as best they can with gravel trucks sprinkling sand and crossing their fingers that folks stay home or drive slow. But even having grown up in Northwestern Washington state I remember plenty of years when the first big snow of the season caught drivers by surprise and those who forgot to slow down sufficiently were the ones being pulled out of the ditches. It usually settled down to a slow drive pattern for the rest of the winter season. There are so many from out-of-state living there now that I don't know if it is still the same. Here in Texas, when confronted with those conditions I know how to drive on ice and snow but prefer not to, because I'm afraid I'll be hit by a clueless local driver.

SRS