So, we got some snow last night. Okay, we legitimately got A LOT of snow. Our immediate area got about 7-8 inches according to the TV weather guy. Now I'm from up north where 7-8 inches of snow in one night is not pleasant, but you just wait a couple of hours for the salt/plow trucks to get out and you're good to go (slowly). Down south where snow is truly a novelty, they save money by not budgeting for things like salt and snow plows. Never mind the small mountains, never mind the crazy raised roadways, never mind the roads that go over rivers and creeks, never mind that it actually seems to snow at least once per year. It's easier to just shut down the city. Or at least it's less expensive. (I will absolutely admit that it is safer and more prudent to go ahead and shut down the city because no one is willing to drive appropriately for dry conditions, let alone snowy/slushy/icy conditions.)
People around here are so terrified of snow that schools and businesses actually started closing Sunday morning--6-8 hours before the first flake even fell. Side note: What was the first thing to close? Auburn, as in the school, not the town. And not just the school, but all of the football tailgate / viewing parties that were planned due to Auburn going to the final game in the BCS tournament. Good thing the game is being played in Phoenix. There might be riots if the game had to be postponed due to snow.
Which brings me to my original question. We've been watching the local TV station to keep tabs on what's open, what's closed, how much snow is coming, when will it finally melt, etc. They keep making a distinction between roads that are "closed" vs. "impassible". For example, the interstate, several of the main artery roads in Huntsville, and the highways that go over the mountains are "closed." In contrast, the roads in Madison City, Madison County, Limestone County, and several of the other small towns in the area are just "impassible." So, what in the world is the difference between "closed" and "impassible"? According to the news anchor on the local CBS station "closed" means there are police actually out and physically preventing travel on that particular roadway, while "impassible" means that, if they had enough staff to do so, there would be police out and physically preventing travel on that roadway, but they don't.
