At a Glance

The South accounts for only 1 percent of the total amount of salt used during anygiven winter in the United States.Few southern states have the fleets of snow plows that clear the roads relatively quickly up north.

When wintry weather strikes the South, it can trigger panic for local officials and millions of residents because Southern statesaren't as well-equipped to handlesnow and ice as their northern neighbors.

Becausemajor snowstorms are less common in the South than in the North (but not as rare as one might think), many southern states just don't budget for road pre-treatment chemicals or salt. In fact,the South accounts for only used during anygiven winter in the United States, according to the Transportation Research Board.

Additionally, few Southern states have the snowplow fleetsthat clear the roads relatively fast in the North.

It'shard to forget the massive traffic jams that paralyzed Atlanta in 2014 when covered the city in ice. Thousandsabandoned their vehicles on the icy roads once it became apparent they were not going anywhere fast.

Winter storms like the one that crippled Atlantahappenperiodically in dozens of cities throughout the South, and it snow and/or ice to createmayhem.

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As Winter Storm Diego continues its march across the southern Plains and into the South, North Carolina and Virginia are gearing up for the winter storm.

The bruntof the storm seems to be targeting the Asheville area, where the average annual snowfall is 11.6 inches. The current forecast as of Friday afternoon calls for upwards of a foot of snow.

In preparation for the storm, Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday morning during a press conference that he would declare a state of emergency. He also enacted the National Guard to "help where needed."

On Friday, Virginia's Gov.Ralph Northam said he and state agencieswere preparing for the winter storm. Northam noted that he hasplaced state agencies, including the departments of Transportation and Emergency Management, as well as Virginia State Police, on alert.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation said it pretreated roadways and of snow and ice, according to a press release from the governor's office.

The equipmentincludes 2,400 trucks with snow plows and more than 135,000 tons of salt. Virginia's fleet is a little stronger, with 11,200 pieces of equipment ready to clear roads if needed.

In Buncombe County, where Asheville is the county seat, the county's department of transportation is preparing roads using , according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. The county will be running12-hour shifts around the clock to prepare, which could add up tomore than 4,000 man-hours.

For comparison, each year, the state of New York stocks840,240 tons of salt, 44,110 tons of treated salt, 40,110 gallons of liquid calcium chloride, 147,850 gallons of liquid magnesium chloride and 1,104,830 gallons of salt brine, as well as a few other chemicals in their arsenal, to keep roads clear. This does not include salt and pre-treatment products stocked by local cities and counties.

Altogether, tens of thousands of trucks and snowplows are ready to clear New York roadways during the winter, and states in the South could never match that number.