I live in the Salt Lake UT area, and sometimes it is only about 5 square miles that is soup, courtesy of the Greaty Stinky Salt Lake. (Karma seems to always put it smack-dab on an airport area) The rest is clear blue VFR skies. Lake effect can easily screw one airport over but have the next airport a few miles away be perfect. I'll admit that I've never used SVFR, but it's nothing other than another tool you can use to get on the ground safely and still maintain safety/legality.