Snow sense

In a rather disappointing Reuter's article about weather prediction, I came across this:

“Bees have built their hives close to the ground. If it was going to snow very heavily, they would have built them higher up,” said Chris Goss, who runs a smallholding in the northeast U.S. state of Vermont.

I'm afraid that doesn't make much sense to me. Bees occupy their nests for many years given the chance. In that case, bees with any genetic sense should be building their nests high up in snowy areas.