As I write this, the first snowfall of the season lies fresh upon the ground. This mocks the fact that the official start of winter is yet 2 full months away, but that’s another story. While an October snow is not out of the ordinary, I was hoping that we’d have a little more time yet before having to deal with it. I’m trusting that this will still dry up over the next several days so that I can get the last of the leaves raked up before winter is here to stay.
Living in this part of the world, as we do, it really is somewhat pointless to try to evade winter or feel surprised when it finally arrives. We know that, sooner or later, it’s going to hit and it will hit hard. While I’m not a huge fan of winter, it’s really more the cold, ice and gray skies that bother me rather than the snow. On the whole, my acceptance is probably more of a grudging tolerance.
To me, the worst aspect of winter weather has always been the intense cold. Anything down to -10° or -15° C is fine, almost pleasant if the sun is shining and the wind is calm. Even scraping the frost off of the car windows is easy – it just peals right off. But, once you get below -20° and towards -30° it’s another story. Everything becomes rigid and hard at those temperatures. Extension cords don’t bend, shovels break and things that normally move, don’t. As for scraping the car windows, you’ll have almost as much success trying to scrape the paint off your car.
Walking any distance in the bitter cold is also a pain – often literally. Toes and fingers get cold and stiff, ears and noses grow numb and the cold air slowly sucks any remaining warmth out of the rest of your body, leaving you wishing that spring was indeed much closer than it was. Of course, at about this point your feet will find an errant patch of ice hiding under the cover of snow, sending you unceremoniously onto the ground in a pitiful heap.
I’ve also driven tens-of-thousands of kilometers over the years on snow-covered highways, usually behind the plows but often before. Avoiding that experience is probably one of the things I appreciate most of now having an inside office job. I recall hearing stories from my parents and seeing pictures as a kid of snowdrifts as high as buildings and other unimaginable winter tales. My own memories held nothing of the sort. But then, over the last several decades, as the climate did backflips we began to see contemporary examples of epic winter storm events. While it is indeed something to have lived through those incidents, on balance I think I’d be happier with a bit less drama in my life.
But yet, there are aspects of winter that can be quite pleasant at times. In Saskatchewan, we’re fortunate to experience a large number of sunny winter days with bright blue skies, where the warmth of the low winter sun streams through our windows during daytime hours. That alone can make up for a lot of the unpleasantness of the season and is something that many other regions can only dream about.
Another special – sometimes almost magical - experience occurs when stepping outside shortly after an evening snowfall, when the blanket of fresh snow muffles all background noises and covers any tracks and other signs of life. It is something that can send chills down your spine. At the same time, the intense glow of the city lights bouncing off of the low clouds and reflected again in the freshly fallen snow can temporarily turn one’s neighborhood into a life-sized snow globe. When I was considerably younger we’d sometimes venture out for walks after midnight on such nights, with the bright night-time illumination making it feel more like daytime than the middle of the night.
So yes, winter can have its good points. Like many other things in life, let’s hope that we can enjoy it in moderation.
