What is the expression folks use for adversity? When it snows, it snows. Yes, and the snowstorm that buried Pittsburgh and much of the Mid-Atlantic over the weekend put down a heavy white blanket that for a while obliterated signs of everyday life.

This is one to remember. A storm as big as this hasn't been seen here since 1993, when the St. Patrick Day Parade Storm dumped 25.3 inches of snow. Indeed, this one -- should we call it the Super Bowl Weekend Storm? -- was surpassed by only three others since records started being kept in 1884.

The region was prepared for a big snowfall, but nothing this deep. When it all ended about noon Saturday, 21.1 inches had been recorded at Pittsburgh International Airport; more had fallen at higher elevations.

A storm of this magnitude is bound to cause great problems. Fallen tree limbs. Downed utility lines. Some 130,000 customers left without power. Icy roads. Accidents. The winter of our discontent was everywhere to be seen.

But, for as frustrated as some people have been, the only sensible attitude is understanding, not resentment. In a storm that requires declarations of emergency and help from the National Guard, it's inevitable that best-laid plans are going to go astray.

There will be time enough for post-mortems on what might have been done better (the clearing of city roads, for example), but for now those on the front lines of the crisis -- the crews that plow the snow, the utility workers who battle to restore power and the police, fire and paramedic units that respond to emergencies -- need the community's support.

None of us can afford to sit back and stay in a burrow. With more snow in the forecast, everyone has work to do, even if it's just checking on an elderly or ailing neighbor. As numerous as the challenges, acts of kindness have proliferated. Western Pennsylvanians have responded to the challenge with a characteristic mix of aid and toughness. What's that expression? When the going gets tough, the tough get shoveling.

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.