How to Speak Like Someone From the States

I read in the news that two men died in an avalanche this weekend in Colorado, which is horrible news. There wasn't heavy snowfall where we were. We didn't even need to put chains to drive through the snow because there wasn't really snow on the roads nor scrape ice off our car windows. I'd say we got really lucky in terms of whether it was around 40 degrees most days and then a little bit colder up in the mountains.