We've a winter storm watch/warning here in Ottawa. Not sure what the difference is, maybe one is more serious than the other. Forecast earlier today was for up to 20 cm of snow man material by tomorrow noon - that's already been downgraded to 15 cm. As usual. We seem to be in some sort of forecast fog here, we often get dire warnings of blizzards or monsoons or hail or locusts, but then things fizzle out. Maybe it's the nearness of the Gatineaus that nudges weather systems, or maybe all the hot air rising from Parliament Hill. The snow is scheduled to start around supper time, to catch some that are driving home from work. I'm sure there will be plenty of minor "accidents". Many of them avoidable. many will not have snow tires on yer, or will be driving with the false sense of invincilbilty thety get from all season tires and anti-lock berakes. many forget how to drive in snow flrom last year, when they slide and slam into another car it always "driving conditions". Never the driver. I'm supposed to go out to band practice tonight, but I'm thinking it may be safer - and quicker - to take the bus.
Driving aside, I'm guessing many of my neighbours will still be delighted to see lots of fluffy stuff this year, as even more of them have bought snowblowers. We normally get over 2 metres of snowfall, last 
year the total fall was double that, so the market for blowers and plow services is hot this year. All that snowfall does pack down, and melt back a bit, but it is still a lot to shovel off the driveway - and up. On our little street, the piles at the end of some driveways are well over the heads of the sweaty shovelers, or higher than their snowblowers could reach. The picture on the left is of my neighbour across from me, in early March. We had another dump after that. Normally winter is not a time to meet neighbours, but with that much snow we were all out shoveling and pushing cars and commiserating with each other. Bundled up and bonding over mugs off coffee, fortified with a little anti-freeze. As you can see, the driveways are not huge, most are only big enough to squeeze in two compact cars. But it seems that doesn't stop many from buying good size snowblowers. It's a boys and toys thing I think. I'm still a shovel guy, one of a diminishing breed. My back is aging, but I keep limber with exercises, take my time, and use a modest size shovel. My place is on an inside corner for the plow, with a big side yard, so they seem to collect a huge amount of snow by the time they get to dumping at the end of my driveway. Luckily I have a nice neighbour that is one of those avid snowblower owners - when he's finished his he needs to keep going so tackles mine next. This year, with even more toys on the street, the few of us that are still old school may have to work out a system of rotation, so that everyone gets a chance to do our driveways.
Edit - 11:50 pm - wet snow, total has been downgraded to 3cm - quelle surprise
I just couldn't believe it when I woke up Wednesday. Bad enough we had about 5000 meters of snow last winter, if October is winter... I leave!
Glad to see it melted though.
Posted by: Zhu | November 01, 2008 at 11:32 PM