A Diary of a snow shoveler part 1

[bobbin]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for staying home if the weather is really crappy, but I do know how to drive in the stuff.  The major thing is to slow down and leave plenty of space between your car and the one in front of you.  I always do the "hard brake test" as quickly as I safely can when I leave the driveway.  I accelerate rapidly and see how the drive wheels react, then I hit the brakes hard and see what happens... pretty much tells me how fast to go and how much added braking distance is required. 

(I used to hold a commercial bus driver's license... when you drive something 40' long with passengers you learn pretty quickly the efficacy of slowing down and "driving the horizon"). 

[Peppy]

He says that the roads here really do get slicker than they do up north. Still others have told me "That's BS".
Having never driven up north during wintery weather, I don't know who to believe. 

I think it's likely that down south you don't have teams of snow plows and salter trucks with every other truck and tractor having a blade or a blower on it. Also practice. Every year the first week of snow people are usually idiots and panic. Then they get  the feel for it, and get comfortable being idiots again.

[Darren Henry]

Well it's -30c this morning. Has snowed almost everyday for the last three months.

Last week was unseasonably mild with day time highs approaching the freezing mark,but over the weekend it dropped back to -28 º C and the wind came up.The windchill yesterday was -41 or forty below. At least we haven't had any more snow for a few days. With the wet conditions and overfull waterways all this snow is going to flood most of southern Manitoba,Saskatchewan, and parts of Alberta. 

You said your lakes could use a little moisture,Peppy; how many tanker trucks can you get ahold of in about 6 weeks?

[scottymc]

 ;D