As a Midwesterner, I have to say, I find east coast snowstorms funny. A 12"+ snow here will get news coverage for a few days leading up to it (if you follow the right places, you'll start hearing about it 2+ weeks out, but only 3-4 days ahead will it hit mainstream media). But at the same time, if YOU GUYS are going to get a 12"+ snow, we'll hear about it here for a week ahead of time. Four years ago, we had a blizzard hit here that when I woke up in the morning, I couldn't find my TRUCK in the driveway (it was hiding in a 7' drift), and the entire western 1/3 of the state was completely shut down, as many highways had 10'+ drifts - one highway near me didn't get reopened until 5 days after the storm. But turn the TV on at night, and what do we hear about? This monster storm that was bearing down on the east coast. The same one that just got done dumping on us.
But I also know exactly what you're talking about. I drive 30 miles one way to work, all of it wide-open rural highway. Snowpacked and drifted roads is a part of living in Iowa. But it never fails, as soon as 47 snowflakes fall, people turn into farking idiots, driving 30 on the highway because "it might be slick". As soon as there's a visible trace of snow on the road, you're better off abandoning the state highways and driving county backroads - or even gravel roads, because the sheeple that are scared out of their minds will stick to the highway.
Good luck to y'all out there.
Edit to add: Add me to the "Prefer cold to hot" crowd. Like they said, you can always put on more clothes when it's cold. There's only so naked I'm allowed to get -- I think they might have put a line about that in the Geneva Convention. Something about crimes against humanity.....
