We arrived back from Montreal two nights ago, back to Vancouver... a Vancouver which, for the first time in over 3 weeks, was finally above 0 degrees Celsius. The biggest irony is that while we were in Montreal (famous for its harsh winters), Vancouver was experiencing its biggest snowfall with weeks on end of record breaking subzero temperatures. There was so much snow around Vancouver that Christmas plans were switched around and some of my relatives were actually stranded in their homes and couldn't make it.
Of course, when you have a Montreal-style snowfall on Vancouver but you lack the infrastructure to remove said snow, you have a monster of a problem on your hands. While Vancouver plows the main streets once after a snowfall, they never, ever plow the side streets. In Montreal? Side streets, alleyways, and heck, even sidewalks are cleared almost by the hour, over and over again. And every few days they'll bring a dump truck to remove the snowbanks. In Vancouver? They had 3 weeks worth of snow (2 feet deep in some areas) covering every single residential side street. Needless to say, most people gave up on their cars... and their jobs, and their holidays, and their Boxing day sales, and school... and even Translink (our public transit service) stopped key bus routes!
Us? We missed all the chaos by being in Montreal.
While sure, Montreal's winters may be more extreme (a daily high might be -7 or -14 Celsius), at least they know how to deal with the snow when it falls. Vancouver? Vancouver's policy has always appeared to be, "just wait it out" because after all, the snow will just melt in a day or two, right? But what happens when a day or two stretches out to be three weeks?
As we were driving back from the airport along Granville Street towards downtown Vancouver, I could see the Montreal-style snowbanks, 7 feet high, by the gas stations. All the residential side streets looked impassible. I did not envy my poor sister who, on January 1st, had to move apartments onto such a side street in a minivan without snow tires.
It has now been raining non-stop since yesterday morning and almost all the snow outside has disappeared. However, I see in the little weather widget here that there may be a chance of snow again this weekend!
Anyway, this is just to say that we're back and we're in one piece. I will be updating this with photos and stories of Montreal (in between sending off my resume for potential jobs!)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
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Powell River got its share of snow in December. That wasn't so bad, but the cold weather kept it on the ground forever! We tried not to drive too much, and when we did kept the truck in 4x4 to get up and down the slick hills. You are right, not much fun when cities are prepared for it. - Margy
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