dbd33

Terrifying drive this afternoon. I'm used to it and I accept that collisions, possibly leading to injury or death, are inevitable in this climate. Still, driving along in blowing snow with no visibility gets wearing.

flat to the mat

If you were that scared then get off the road and stop being a mobile hazard to others , or in your world does "terrifying" mean everything was under control ?
Drivers and screwdrivers

dbd33

I'm no more of a hazard to others than they are to me. Less, in fact, as my vehicle is smaller and doesn't dump waves of snow on to the oncoming traffic. No vehicles are properly under control when the driver can't see the road ahead.

Life goes on though, it snows, but people still have to go places.

MillieF

I cannot help but agree. For 18 months before moving to Canada I looked at the weather forecast on a daily basis and watched the webcams at all different times...I thought I could cope, and I could last year, but this has been nasty.

It is now +2 outside, and the sun is streaming through my window and all is bright and jolly....but I can't let the dog out in the garden as the snow drifts have completely covered my gaden fence and the dog took off over it last night, I ran across the great white lawn to get him back and went into a drift that was up to my armpits, and flailed around a bit but couldn't get out...I felt stupid and very stuck, it was like being in candy floss, I just couldn't get purchase to get up. Thankfully my husband and son managed to get me out and the dog back, but it gave me a scare, had I been on my own I'd have been toast.

This winter has been the worst on record in Fredericton for 20 years...the Fredericton Gleaner said so yesterday. We have more snow forcast for the end of the week,with a big temperature plunge, and afterwards I am hoping that this sorry period will soon improve.

I am not a snow novice, and I have 'visited' other bits of Canada frequently, but the day to day to month by month toil of shoveling and trying to get to work etc, not fall on my bum too publicly...and yes dbd33 keep my car safely on the road when I feel me (and all the other drivers) are about to play bumper cars, has short circuited my sense of humour big time.

flat to the mat

You sound like my worst kind of driver , pedaling along in their Sunfire/equally shitty noddy car with white knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel , nose against the windshield , totally petrified of their surroundings but justifying being there because everyone else is ,without having a clue what to do when the situation goes pear shaped .
Probably one of the muppets that relies on DLR lights because you can see the road ahead

dbd33

Actually, I'm really quite keen on using lights at the rear of the car. Few people think of that, presumably because they don't control the ones at the front. There's a constant danger of running it the back of a vehicle that's moving slowly and is obscured by fog or blowing snow.

There's an equal danger, of course, of being shunted off the road by some drug crazed lunatic who's been at the wheel of his truck for days and is on my route to work only because the highway's been closed.

MarylandNed

Well that's progress at least. You admit there's a part that isn't rubbish!

Steve_

I wouldn't want to live in Winnipeg either!

But as said, it's an atypical winter.

MarylandNed

Yep - and that's the key thing. Many areas are reporting their worst winter for 20-25 years. But some people seem eager to portray this winter as typical.

Oink

If you look at the videos they're spaced out over three to four years. Plus, no one is "trying to portray" anything, we just want to warm people that the winters are much much harsher than in the UK and people should take care.

Novocastrian

You're both right. Avoid confusing weather with climate. This winter has seen untypical weather in most places in Canada (and for that matter in the US), but the climate is defined by the 30-year rolling average of the weather, so one year doesn't change it either way.

The winter climate in Canada remains as it was. Totally shitty.

MrFloyd

So I should love it and take care.

Got it

MarylandNed

Oh I see now! You're entering some type of contest for Stating the Bleeding Obvious.

Oink

Sure if you've lived here, not if you haven't.

Steve_

The one thing I would say is that weather forecasts in Alberta are total wank during the winter.

Anyone considering moving here based on monitoring the weather forecast should bear this in mind.

I think in most places the weather forecast is conservative, i.e. they say it's going to be 16 C but it turns out to be 18 C.

In Alberta they always say the "high" is going to be, say 8 C but if it gets there it touches it for about two seconds at 3pm in the afternoon.

Coming from Europe, you aren't used to that because it's more overcast. Calgary is extremely sunny with no cloud cover most of the time so whereas you might hit the high at 10am in London you don't hit it in Calgary until 3pm.

You get more information by looking at the forecast lows, not the highs.

I remember one time they got all excited that the high had reached 38 C I think it was, back around 2007 or 2008 during the summer. I happened to be standing outside in a parking lot at that exact moment, sure enough the wind stopped blowing and for a maximum of 20 minutes it got to 38 C and then the wind kicked in and it was back down to around 30 C at most.

Also coming from Europe they have this thing called "humidity" which is not present on the prairies during the winter.