My busness partner, Linda, and I tell people relocating here all the time that we just don't have that much snow anymore.  Well--after 12 inches last night and 18-20 inches the week before Christmas, we exceedes the outdated statistics saying Roanoke has 29 inches of snow fall on average.  The saving grace, I expect, is that we did tell folks there were natural signs of a colder and harder winter for the coming season.  The trees and bushes outdid themselves producing nuts and berries, and the squirrels outdid themselves harvesting them all fall.  My father, who was an avid outdoorsman, always accurately predicted the weather by watching signs in nature.  We humans should pay much more attention to nature and not just to predict the weather!