That's pretty much my thoughts a few hours East. My brother in law is in Tennessee, but from here and he's laughing at the people freaking out. Sent us a picture and you couldn't tell it had snowed. Got a friend in Brooklyn who lived here for a few years who says he "risked his life" walking to work and posted a video on facebook. I told him it didn't look too bad and he says it's because I'm from crazy upstate. The weather channel showed a video in DC and I didn't think it was bad until I saw the way idiots were driving. Also heard a story that someone died plowing snow (obviously that's tragic, may he RIP, prayers for family) and I have no idea how that even happens. There was one crazy picture from Baltimore though showing how high the snow was when someone opened their front door (and to be fair that should have been shoveled multiple times by then and it's clear that it wasn't).
So basically, the fact that people aren't used to snow there is a bigger deal than the snow itself.