November 22, 2007 "First snow"

Yesterday was the first day we had snow this season, but I didn't get the photos up until today. And then there was more snow.

Yesterday was slightly warmer and we had less snow than today. The skateboard park was quiet and empty. The slopes aren't long enough the attract people with sleds.

When I walked by the split in the bike path in the morning, nothing had been shovelled and there was evidence that at least one person had braved the conditions on his bicycle.

Later in the day however, both sections of the path had been plowed. This seems unusual to me because I don't remember ever having seen the branch of the path that heads toward the river cleared of snow in the past. I wonder if there was a new snow clearing person and they just wandered off down the path without knowing it wasn't part of their job?

Later, when I got to the corner of Woodroffe and Navaho, I saw the usual mess that has prompted me to buy waterproof boots. There are street plows and sidewalk plows and they don't seem to coordinate with each other, so snow piles up on the corners, right where pedestrians need to cross the street. Then when it is mild, a giant deep puddle forms because the snow is blocking the drains.

In addition, as I pointed out earlier, the poles that have the buttons on them to push so you get the "walk" signal, are surrounded by dirt which turns into mud and here is evidence of that.

Even though it was mild, the maintenance folks at OC Transpo had been out distributing more salt than you can imagine. I know they don't want to have people fall but this is ridiculous. And couldn't they use sand, as it is far less corrosive than the salt? When I had a dog, I couldn't walk the poor thing anywhere near the bus stop because the salt would hurt the pads of its feet.

When I left the house this morning, I saw bunny tracks on the driveway in the fresh snow. This is common all winter long but I always find it a pleasant sight. Still, I worry about where these bunnies spend their winter.

I walked by that abandoned chair, making a mental note to remember later when it disappears (finally).

Then I passed this flurry of footprints in the parking lot. It seems to be a combination of pigeon and rabbit tracks and they organize around some sort of food that left crumbs.

It was good and windy and still snowing when I walked home, and I wondered if the conditions met the criteria for a blizzard. They didn't. I looked "blizzard" up first at dictionary dot com and it said a blizzard has to have sustained winds of at least 56 kph and visibility has to be reduced to less than 400 metres. The Wikipedia article (at the link above) says the winds have to be 40 kph, visibility has to be less than a kilometre and this has to last for at least 4 hours. In any event, I don't think this will rate as a blizzard.