Snow. The four letter "s" word that puts the fear in every Southern’s eyes. It’s not that we’re actually afraid of the snow. We just don’t like it and have to take extreme caution. Once the weather channel broadcasts a chance of it, everyone goes crazy. If there is one snowflake in sight, these 5 things almost always happen.

1. You have to explain your state of panic to your northern friends.

We know that 2 or 3 inches of snow is nothing compared to 2 or 3 feet. What many people who don’t live in the South don’t understand is that we simply do not have the equipment to deal with the snow. Roads and interstates are shut down, and people can’t go to work because we don’t have nearly enough snow plows for Atlanta, and all of its suburbs. We panic because a little ice and a lack of equipment make it near impossible to leave the house for who knows how long.

2. You get to leave school early if there is a slight possibility of snow.

A possibility. Here in the South, schools are released early or even canceled for the entire day if it might snow. Sometimes, you get a day off for no reason. But in all seriousness, every once in a while it actually snows, and school is canceled for a good reason. Snowy/icy roads are a huge risk for school buses and cars, and it is not a risk worth taking.

3. You can’t find a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread at any grocery store in the entire city.

This one is self explanatory. Why people get bread and milk, I will never understand. What happens when the power goes out and the bread goes bad? I personally like to go straight to the cereal aisle.

4. When/if the snow finally comes, you have to get creative with your sleds.

We Southerners don’t typically have access to sleds because we rarely need them. This requires people to get creative with items they already have. Everyone in my hometown goes to a local golf course to sled down the hills when it snows. Over the past few years, I have seen some extremely interesting/hilarious/borderline genius make-shift sleds. I’ve seen people go down the hill on kayaks, boating tubes, boogie boards, rubbermaid lids and laundry baskets. No joke.

5. You’ll be incredibly grateful once the snow finally melts.

By finally melting, I mean melting after 3 or 4 days. 5 tops. It’s fun to go out in the snow for a few days, but then you're done with it. It's at times like these when we remind ourselves that we will probably never move up north because we don’t actually like the snow for more than 3 days.