Ah, OK, so now I know why that centimeter or so of snow appeared to make no impact on the locals.
In twenty-four hours we have had a record-breaking 45cm of snow!!
Despite being full of cold, there was no way I was going to miss out on sampling firsthand this amazing occurrence. Wrapping up in layer after layer, we ventured out into the storm.
The wind – at times the gusts reaching 60 km an hour - blew the flakes into our faces making it at times impossible to see where we were going, and the depth of the snow made for hard walking; but we were child-like in our excitement and not even these factors - or the -15 temperature - could cause us to turn tail and head home. We climbed over the snowdrifts, took photos like tourists; and one of us made a snow angel...
As we slid along at a snails pace, we passed many pour souls digging out their cars. On the radio they were telling people not to head out in the car unless it was absolutely essential, but from their efforts, it seemed that obviously some people needed to make a move...(had enough of the family over Christmas, have we...???)
Being Montreal, and not *ahem* England – sorry, oh birth country of mine, I just couldn't resist that little dig - buses were continuing to run (admittedly, just), and the city was still carrying on about its daily business; if not a little slower than normal.
It was amazing how soon the big machines of the snow-clearing services came along, and how quickly the city began getting cleared: routes to hospitals, metro stations, highways and bus lanes first, working their way around to the smaller streets.
But getting all the city streets and pavements cleared will take time, and it is expected to take six days, with a workforce of a couple of thousand operating well over a thousand pieces of machinery. The costs for removal, solely for this storm, will apparently be in the region of $25 Million.
That's one big snow storm, and one big clean up operation!