Snow Storm
The forecast for the next few days is full of white. Vancouver and surrounding regions will be experiencing the biggest snow storm since the blizzard of 1997. We're expecting about 10 inches or 20cm of snow tonight. Please drive carefully tomorrow morning. Roads are expected be covered in black ice. It will be very slick and slippery.
For the past week, there has been a lot of snow in Vancouver. If you know Vancouver, you know that this is strange. Heavy snow storms only come every 4-5 years. Vancouver is famous for its rainy winters, not its snowy winters. It was very different for this past week.
People were expecting it to be colder this year after we had a very dry winter last year. People put snow tires on their cars in anticipation. Skiers and snowboarders looked forward to a busy season playing on the local mountains. Schoolage children looked forward to the snowball fights and to missing days of class.
It came down really heavy last Friday night. The sky was full of snowflakes and people were feeling joyful. There were a lot of snowball fights across the city, I'm sure. I, unfortunately, was on the other side of town from home when the snow hit the city. That meant I had to drive in the snow. It was a somewhat daunting task. The roads were slushy. It was hard to see with all the snowflakes. And the worst thing of all, most Vancouver drivers don't know how to drive properly in the snow.
The snow was deep enough on Sunday morning to cancel some church services in the city. Children flocked to the hills in the city so that they could slide down in their sleds. Some actually had real sleds. Some people used garbage bags. Another child was using a baby wash basin. That was definitely different. I'm sure many children were hoping that the snow would stay so that the schools would close the next day.
Parents and adults, on the other hand, dread the snow. Because when it snows, they have to get to work in the snow. There are no excuses for missing work just because it's snowing. The morning drive to work in snow was slow, cold, and sometimes dangerous. Many more accidents happen when there is snow falling in the city. Some people decided to take the bus to work instead of driving. So the bus became very crowded and slower. Even the SkyTrain (similar to a subway or metro) was having trouble with all the strange weather.
About a week later, the weather is now warming up and it's back to the regular rainy weather. The last of the snow is melting away. The snowmen have all melted into puddles of water on people's lawns.
We'll remember the snow here in Vancouver. You see, we don't get much of the white stuff here. It's always memorable when it starts to snow.