6 limes

Hi all, yes another question from me!!
I have read much about the winters in canada and I'd love to know how well you all adjust to it, or how many people hate it to the point of considering returning to the UK.
In particular we're thinking of NS but would be happy to hear of any area.

chumley

we had 19 degrees yesterday in NS what winter we cant wait for the snow

Silverdragon102

I know these last few days have been really warm in NS or where I live although had a bit of mist yesterday. DH put the snow fence up the other day which wasn't as bad as he expected due to the ground being a bit soft.

nikki dreaming

sorry, at the risk of looking really stupid, what's one of these?

dbd33

It's a fence, typically made of sticks wired together or plastic mesh, that you put up for the winter to catch or divert snow. The idea being to keep the drifts out of the driveway. Maybe I should be putting ours up.

In answer to the original question I hate it. Since the clocks went back I don't see daylight on weekdays. Every evening two morons bang their inconsquential rice burners together blocking the highway. Soon every second day will be disrupted because I or someone I know fell on the ice and everything will be covered in salt; no one has clean clothing in winter in Canada, avoid black trousers. Escape is difficult because the airport becomes even less organized when faced with drizzle or worse, several times I've been on planes that got stuck in snowbanks. All in all, it's horrible.

nikki dreaming

thanks dbdsomething to add to the list of household essentials

dbd33

Depends on the site of your house, you need to go through one winter so as to see where the snow piles up. In our case there are open fields to windward which is bad but a steep drop to leeward so, if it's very windy, the snow goes off the hill. If it's less windy this happens:

http://upperappalachia.blogspot.com/...g-to-barn.html

Elaine B.

I think the first few winters are a novelty and then after that, unless your into winter sports of course, they're just something you want to end as quickly as possible.

nikki dreaming

Ok thanks

don't envy you that does look a bit of a chore

Perhaps purchasing a snowblower is the way forward for the first winter to clear the drive and to suss out where the snow tends to end up

nikki dreaming

[QUOTE=Elaine B.;6955569 I think the first few winters are a novelty and then after that, unless your into winter sports of course, they're just something you want to end as quickly as possible.[/QUOTE]

can see it could become a bit of a pain, after a while!

I have already told OH that clearing the drive will be down to him to sort out

dbd33

It all depends on the house. In the suburbs houses often have the garage on the front so as to reduce the amount of driveway; good for snow removal even if godawfully ugly. A shovel is sufficient for such a house. Farms typically have the barn to windward but, if there's any length of driveway, a tractor and/or a blower attachment is needed. That's in Ontario though, NS gets more snow.

Elaine B.

Most of my time in Canada I lived in apartments so luckily there wasn't shoveling to do. I think the biggest pain was getting kids into snow suits and trying to push a stroller through the snow. But on the up side at least the sun still shines in Canada in the winter and the place doesn't come to a stand still at the first flake of snow.

Greenhill

I've tried to adopt a "do as the Nova Scotian's do" attitude but so far failed miserably. Throughout winter I'm used to seeing the natives driving around in beat-up rear-wheel drive cars with 3 bald tyres and get by without complaint, many of them wearing open-necked shirts and shorts (when it's -5 out). They all speed-slide by me on the inside lane of the highway, where the snow is still deep, obviously in a hurry to get to the outside BBQ party to drink cold beer. I've tried to acclimatise by dressing inadequately, I've considered getting by with inadequate transport but it's just not for me...

The locals seem to have a supreme hardiness that makes all others look like "whining cry-babies". I wonder if it's all that rum they drink?

Seriously though, I've been here a few years now and am pretty used it all, I don't really worry about the conditions much these days, just get on with it. But that doesn't stop winter feeling long and April is always disappointing.

Alberta_Rose

My uncle lives in NS (emigrated about 40 years ago), and they used to complain about the snow. He complained that they got snow on snow on snow, and he would clear his drive and clear his drive and clear his drive until eventually there would be snow banks higher than his head on both sides for the whole winter.

I have heard that winters in NS have become less severe in later years, but I didn't find his description conducive to living there.

Eventually they would head to Florida for the winter (when he retired). Now my aunt has died and he lives in a condo, so I presume the snow doesn't affect him quite as much anyway.

Oh, nearly forgot to say how it is with us: well we live in NW Calgary. We carefully bought a house with no sidewalk to worry about, and we only have a short length of drive and a garage out front as dbd described. We seldom get deep snow (in the last three years anyway) and when we do get snow it normally does not last long due to the Chinooks. We have clear blue skies most days, and enjoy the winter sports too, so winter doesn't bother us overly. My lads cannot WAIT for it to snow properly (in the mountains anyway!)

Getting There

We're not far south of Morwenna in Okotoks, Alberta. We too employed the no sidewalk = less shovelling plan and are glad we did. For others coming across this way, we're recording our experience of the weather in the weather blog in the sig line below.

Eamonn & Janet.