You can tell a lot about people by the way they react to a snowstorm. And it’s surprising how differently communities across North America cope with the white stuff.
Some people love the excitement of fresh-falling snow and, as the sky turns white with fluffy flakes, they rush outside to stick their tongues out and tromp around. They don’t seem to care as the big flakes make messes of their hair. They’re children, or eternal children. They put on their snowboots, skis or snowshoes and head outside.
As I trudged along Second Avenue in the storm on Sunday, I saw a mother pulling a plastic toboggan full of giddy children. And I saw a van in an empty parking lot, the driver slowly doing donuts. Usually I think of doing donuts in a parking lot as a wild-guy activity, but he was being cautious.
The caution of Squamish-area people has been obvious on the roads as well. With any sign of snow, most people slow down – almost to a crawl. It might be because snow tires are less common here, or that people are not used to driving in treacherous conditions. In other parts of Canada, snow tires are mandatory by law.
Snow clearing varies widely across North America. Once, while I visited Washington D.C., a heavy snowstorm actually closed the city. Because of the lack of plows, people could not get through streets, so they simply stayed home. (And when a snowball fight broke out there, someone pulled out a gun.)
Montreal is highly organized for snowfalls. A motorcade of dump trucks transports the snow to designated snowpiles all night long. They don’t fool around there; Montreal spends $150 million a year on snow clearing, and crews begin work as soon as flurries begin.
I was a little surprised the other day to see that in parts of Squamish, the snow was allowed to build up all day, then pushed to the centre of the street the next morning. The sidewalks were simply left, so any elderly person would have to negotiate over slippery banks of snow to get to the post office or buy groceries. But the assumption was that it was all going to melt.
And it seems they were right.
We’re lucky to live in a community where snowfalls are special.
