Well here in Denver the kids go to school even if there is a blizzard. First, they say, is because some kids would not get to eat breakfast or lunch unless they were in school. Second, they say, is that if they closed school for every blizzard then we'd end up making those days up in June.
The difference is that we are used to it. The highway department is set up with many snow plows and magnesium trucks to prevent icing on the roads. Also, most everyone here owns a 4x4 or an AWD. You can still get a couple of grand for a Subaru with over 200,000 miles on it here.