East Coast braces for hurricane-strength snark from Southern storm ‘veterans’

After withstanding sniping from the West Coast for their reaction to the 5.9-magnitude earthquake earlier this week, East Coast residents are now facing Category 5 ridicule from hurricane "veterans" in Southern states.

And, as it was during Tuesday's earthquake, Twitter was the place to find excitable East Coasters bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Irene--and from insufferable hurricane know-it-alls.

"We get mocked by Chicago for not being able to take snow, California for not being able to handle quakes," DCist.com senior editor Martin Austermuhle wrote. "Is Florida next?"

Yes, but much of the Sunshine State's unchecked aggression was, like Irene, aimed at New York.

"Dude, for a city that has weathered so much in the past decade--from 9/11 to blackouts, serial killers to the Knicks--New York is acting wimpier these days than LeBron James atop a diving platform," Michael Miller of the Miami New Times wrote in a blog post. "First, there was that itsy, bitsy earthquake Tuesday, equivalent to chugging a Red Bull and downing one too many Taco Bell seven-layer burritos. Now NYC is s---ting a brick over Hurricane Irene. Relax, hipsters."

Gawker's Brian Moylan summed up that sentiment:

"Pussies." -- Everyone in Florida

Florida, and, it seemed, the rest of the South.

"Watching New Yorkers discuss hurricane preparation is about as fun as watching old people discuss how to make cellphones work right," Harrison Scott Key, writing teacher at the Savannah College of Art and Design, tweeted.

"Based on anecdotal reporting," Lizzie O'Leary, Washington D.C.-based correspondent for Bloomberg Television, wrote, "signs point to my mom teaching How To Handle A Hurricane Like a Texan class for all you lucky New Yorkers."

Seth Fried, a Brooklyn-based writer, offered some mock advice to his neighbors: "If your apartment is hit by a dolphin, DO NOT GO OUT TO SEE IF THE DOLPHIN IS OKAY. That's how the hurricane tricks you into coming outside."

But one of those neighbors, filmmaker Spike Lee, joined in the mocking of New York's over-prepared residents.

"People ... RAIN does not drop until Saturday Night. Hurricane Irene is Sunday," Lee--who directed the acclaimed Hurricane Katrina documentary "When the Levees Broke"--wrote. "Let's do it like they do it in New Orleans. HURRICANE PARTY. YA-DIG."

Only one small problem in Lee's party plan: Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered a shutdown of all New York City subway trains and buses starting at noon Saturday, forcing Lee to cancel a planned Michael Jackson birthday celebration that had been slated for Brooklyn on Saturday.