A lot has been made of the Blizzard of 2016, otherwise known as "Snowzilla," which has dumped much of the East coast with record levels of snow. But did you know a snowstorm that struck Virginia in the late 1700s was so potent that it forced a pair of founding fathers to stay indoors? Indeed, the Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm of 1772, which kept George Washington and Thomas Jefferson holed up in their respective Virginia plantations, walloped the colony from the 26th through the 29th of January. The storm is so named because both men wrote in their weather diaries of unprecedented levels of snow falling in the vicinity. When it was all said and done, the snowstorm may have dumped as much as three inches of snow on the region, making it one of the biggest of its kind to ever hit the Virginia/DC area. Had you ever heard of the Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm before? Have you ever experienced a snowstorm yourself?

I live in South Florida, which is widely known for its scorching summers and relatively warm winters. Most people would agree that it feels like summer year-round here. One common complaint among South Floridians is that it never quite feels like Christmas, as people generally associate the holidays with cold weather. I would surmise that most people throughout the country yearn for whatever kind of weather they get little of. New Yorkers and Bostonians surely get tired of being inundated with snow, while heat-loathing Floridians like me yearn for the opportunity to dust off their sweaters and coats once in a while. Granted, I'm all for light snow, but heavy snowstorms -- the kind that keep people holed up at home and force them to shovel snow from their driveway for days on end -- are something I'd rather not deal with. If I have to choose between this and a blistering South Florida afternoon, I'd opt for the latter. (At least I can find respite from the heat in an air...