Re: winter clothing?
 

Mountains of them at the Costco in Etobicoke this morning. Perhaps not handy for Albertans.

Re: winter clothing?
 

I still remember when I first arrived in January '98... got off the plane in a t-shirt, denim jacket, jeans and trainers. Put on my fingerless gloves and a wooly Madness hat as I exited Pearson... soon learned my lesson!

Re: winter clothing?
 

We just arrived last week & all the Canadians we have met so far have advised us to get our Winter gear now AND to take advantage of the discount ski passes available if bought in the summer. I think it's sound advice....

Re: winter clothing?
 

When I was over in Edmonton in February I went to Sears and got a fantastic winter jacket for $120. It will last me for years!!

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i have never bought any winter clothes in Canada apart from gloves..i dont own snow pants or snow boots..the jackets i had from the UK are fine:thumbup:..i buy stuff for the kids but wait until october before making those purchases.

Re: winter clothing?
 

Fairly good point. If you have a good winter coat already, you may as well see how it goes. Gloves and boots are still a must IMO. Oh can't remember if you said about kids in school? They will need ice skates, so you'll need to get those sooner rather than later, my daughter has Walmart ones, she's not big into skating. They will also need to be warm enough to be outside unless it's colder than -21 too.

Re: winter clothing?
 

I got the best mittens at Winners. They are not connected by a bit of string, but have elastic loops to attach to your wrists, plus long drawstring cuffs to go over the jacket sleeves.


Mittens are warmer than gloves, but if you have to whip one off to do something fiddly you are not going to loose it, and the cuff keeps the wind and snow out.

I got a really good pair of top end breathable leather ski gloves at Winners too for a bargain price too, but they dont get much use compared to the Burton mitts.

For everyday winter outer ware go with layers, somewhere likes Marks Work Warehouse is a good bet, and less spendy than MEC. Even Walmart and Zellers will have gear designed to deal with the local conditions if you dont intend doing anything too athletic. If you do intend to do anything athletic breathability is worth paying a premium for, there is nothing worse then getting all sweaty, that's a sure fire way to end up cold.

If you plan spending any time outside in the winter some decent boots like Sorels are worth finding.

Re: winter clothing?
 

I was just about to say exactly the same thing, your front door will be frozen shut anyway. One thing you do need is a good humidifier, get it sorted now because during the winter it's harder.

I have got all kinds of winter gear, rarely use it. Good padded jacket and a set of decent gloves and a toque is usually all you need. Ski mask if you have to spend any real time outside. I find with gloves you need the thermal inners and good solid gloves over the top, so if you have to take the gloves off to manipulate something fiddly, your fingers don't freeze to what you touch.

You will need it because eventually you will go bonkers from being inside all the time and decide that you must venture out and then you will nearly freeze to death in the process. But unless you've got a job that requires outside work, basically heated house to garage, heated car to heated parkade to heated shops/offices.

I remember one February I decided I had to go out into the wilderness because of cabin fever and as I was stood there shivering in -20 I realized by boots had frozen to the ground...

Basically I find that everyone in Alberta has developed some sort of psychological coping process to get through winter and convince themselves it's not as bad as it actually is, so you hear endless BS stories about the day in February when it got warm enough to wear shorts because of a chinook, etc. It's all bullshit. It is seriously f---ing cold in Alberta during the winter. Like I said, the main problem is not the cold, it's the lack of humidity, it is really, really REALLY dry.

Note in a lot of insurance policies and so on you will see winter defined as November 30th to April 15th. However on average Calgary gets 190 days a year with temperatures below freezing.

Re: winter clothing?
 

Maine has different weather, it is much drier out here. People call it a "dry cold" and that means if there is no wind it can be bearable even in -20 and below, however you have to be bloody careful because if you're in -20 and the wind picks up you can be in big trouble fast, I speak from personal experience. Always have a ski mask and something to cover your eyes with handy.

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-15 maybe, -10 definitely. -20 is a bit harsh if you're out in it for any length of time. -23 is really the break point, that is the temperature freezers operate at usually and the reason why is that skin freezes very quickly at -23 and below. So if you're in -20 and there is any sort of wild chill from a moderate wind you have to be careful.

Re: winter clothing?
 

I already had decent winter gear before I arrived, but I do think a mistake people make when they move here is that they move here in the summer, January is the better time to do it because you actually get the hang of winter without having to go through the whole thing. Yes it's more awkward moving furniture and so on in -20 but at least you will know in the future what it's going to be like.

Re: winter clothing?
 

Follow at least three car lengths, otherwise your windshield will be destroyed almost immediately by gravel. It will be destroyed anyway, but not as quickly. Do not follow closely behind tall vehicles, in fact stay in the lane as far away as you can get because large chunks of ice can come off the top.

Memorize the road layouts and road signs, the road signs are often invisible during the winter and the stop lines almost always are. You'll notice right now that the paint is almost gone on a lot of roads, winter is the reason why.

Check tire pressure frequently, the temperatures can vary considerably and tire pressure can drop quickly. Get driving gloves, there will be times when the steering wheel is literally freezing cold.

Make sure you've got anti-freeze in your window washers, you will be using them constantly and also I suggest investing in a top quality set of wiper blades.

Winter tires are overrated imx, I agree they are helpful but if you're in the city on frequently cleared roads they're aren't that necessary.

Helpful to buy a car in a colour that can be seen clearly against white.

Have a squeegee and a snow brush in your car. And a set of jumper cables, tire inflator and battery charger aren't bad ideas either.

You now know why Canadian Tire is such a large business.

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We were over in 2004 from Sept - December and experienced Calgary and Toronto temps of -25 to -35. As total novices we just layered up my coat I came from the UK in sufficed, the only thing I would do now when we eventually migrate for good is to get something warmer than jeans on my legs, they were the coldest.

I have to say we then endured -10 back in the UK after this and it seemed much colder here so don't worry too much it's a different sort of cold and I'm sure we'll all get used to it. Think Steve has just put a post on about cars etc and we'll take a look at that one ourselves as there seems to be some pretty good advice there.

Janette:thumbup:

Re: winter clothing?
 

Presumably you dont mean actual antifreeze, but cold rated washer fluid.:blink: Winter wipers or the blade type ones without obvious springy bits to get frozen solid are worth it.
Except when its really cold the car will stop MUCH sooner with winter rubber on it. Yay, August and we can discuss winter tires!


Not surprisingly there is a section on winter driving in the wiki.
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Winter_Driving

Re: winter clothing?
 

[QUOTE=mandymoochops;9556297]Seeing as, unusually so for a Friday, I am neither drunk nor in a foul mood I shall attempt to answer this sensibly.

I suppose you worry about the winters because until you experience one all you hear is that it's incredibly cold.

Mandymoochops, I am glad you were neither drunk nor nasty, because that was one of the most helpful posts on winter clothing imaginable - many thanks! I get to kind of worry about winter. Oddly enough I was in Calgary in winter when it snowed like hell, it wasn't actually as bad as I thought it might be because it was high dry cold. Where I live now is marshland, and it is just so so cold in winter as it's permanently damp. My Canadian mother and brother-in-law nearly died of cold when they visited and moaned constantly.