Mum and Yorkie:
Thanks for your concern, but this is one of those cases where I am glad that "News of the World" is NOT news of North Georgia! We are quite safe down here, 650 miles to the southwest in Athens, Georgia, where it was a nippy -2 C this morning, but it has warmed to a sunny 13 C this afternoon.
The weather conditions that cause snows like this are limited to areas that touch our Great Lakes. These big snows are called "lake effect" snows, cold air picks up extra moisture from the lakes, and the result is that snow is deposited down wind of the lakes. So, in the USA, the effects are felt mostly in the states from Minnesota and east to New York (and sometimes "New England" states). Folks on the Canadian side of the border get the same treatment.
Normally, lake effect snows result in, for example, 12 inches of snow close to the lakes, compared to 2 inches away from the lakes. These breathtakingly large snows are unusual, but have occurred before, so are not unprecedented.
Here is an interesting marker from northern Michigan, illustrating how heavy these snows can be:
https://www.pasty.com/snow/ The record snowfall for the winter of 1978 - 1979 was about 32.5 feet. I actually passed that marker in late summer 1979, when the weather was pleasant and warm, with no snow in sight! Many houses in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (where the UPers live!) have a door on the second floor of the house so access to the house is not blocked by accumulated snow. They are prepared.
