As much as I’m loathe to admit (Minnesota) Star Tribune reporters are right about anything, the Strib’s reporter in D.C., Kevin Diaz, does get one thing right about what locals are calling snowpocalypse. And what we Minnesota natives call winter. In a blog post on the Strib’s “Hot Dish Politics,” he describes the differences between this snowfall and the great snowfall of 1991 in Minnesota.

The Washington area, once slammed by John F. Kennedy for its “southern efficiency and northern hospitality,” is basically clueless about snow.

(Point 2, subparagraph 1: The nation’s capital is a veritable Tower of Babel of driving styles, with a lot of folks at the wheel who, let’s just say, don’t know a lot about winter driving technique in the First World; Point 2, subparagraph 2: There’s no Minnesota Nice ethic here that gives any reassurance that once you dig your car out on the street you’ll ever get to park there again).