A history of drifts: major snows in America

The nation’s capital has been shut down this week, again, after receiving more than 50 inches of snow. It’s the biggest snowfall ever recorded in D.C. history. The storm has also paralyzed most of the Northeast.

We talk with Bernard Mergen, author of “Snow in America,” and “Weather Matters: An American Cultural History Since 1900,” about how American culture and history has been shaped by the falling of the humble snowflake.