Wednesday Walk after a 47 cm (18.5") Record Snowfall

It's not that it's a lot of snow for us, it's that it all fell in one day -- it started around midnight Monday morning. Between 8-9 am, 12 cm (~4-3/4") fell. On days like that, all you can do is watch and not go out unless you really must because the roads are a mess.

Before I could go for my walk, I had to shovel my way out.

Yesterday, schools and some businesses were closed. Some flights were cancelled. Sometimes highways are closed. The city had all 575 pieces of snow removal equipment working around the clock to clear the snow. As you can see, they do a good job and they are still busy today.

At -16C (3.2° F), I won't be out for long but we can take a quick look around. It's garbage day and a little extra snow won't stop the pickup.

Busier roads are higher priority for clearing and we use salt and sand on them. When the sun beats down on the asphalt, the snow doesn't last long, as you can see.

I often head this way but I'm only wearing ankle boots and the path isn't cleared yet. Lower priority. See the stake on the fire hydrant? That's so it can be found when the snow is deeper.

I walk along and my lungs fill with this cold fresh air. If the path looks like it was cleared by a machine, it was. We have small plows to clear the sidewalks.

You can't help feeling like you're walking through a tunnel.

A side path to the bush gets stomped on by early morning dog walkers.

So this is what 47 cm (18.5") looks like. Before it fell, there was snow on the ground that covered everything with a bit of a bank near the road. We typically get most of our snow in January and February then often end March with one final dump of it.

One of the sidewalk plows whizzed by down the street and I zoomed my camera to get a shot for you. Missed it.

They started their snow pile at the little plaza. Some winters, the pile gets big enough that they haul it elsewhere to make room for more.

This is a view I put in a post about paths and how people walk. Here, they normally go straight but in winter, it's easier to go where the snow plow goes.

By the way, in our proper English spelling, this should be "plough" but we often use the shorter and more intuitive American spelling.

Beautiful. You almost feel like you're out in the country.

Suddenly, I feel like I'm not alone.

It's just me in the super tall version.

I started down the unplowed path before I decided it was too cold out to be fun. Turning around, I headed for home.

Caught one! Don't they look like a fun thing to drive?

Just then, something broke and the plow was stuck there in the middle of the street. I spoke with the driver briefly and watched as a big Purolator truck squeezed by.

They always try to keep the mailboxes clear.

Home, and I peek out the back door. The table was bare before the snow storm. When we have a lot of snow, it's completely buried.

And we're expecting another 10 cm (4") tomorrow! It's starting to feel like a real Canadian winter.

Thank you @tattoodjay for the wonderful Wednesday Walk and motivating me to go outside on a cold day.

Images

Photos from my Canon SX620 HS in Kanata, Ontario, Canada.

Enjoy!
@kansuze