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Written by Susan Hollingshead
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Tuesday, 29 January 2008 09:02 |
 Vancouver and the surrounding suburbs are known for their temperate winter climate so when the weather becomes more winter-like with blasts of snow no one is really prepared. Though we had heard snow was imminent, on Sunday morning, here in New Westminster, we were dumped on while many of the surrounding suburbs enjoyed some sunshine. It came as a surprise because it was forecast for overnight Friday but as Sunday progressed the snow made it’s rounds throughout the lower mainland and it was heavy enough that a couple of bridges closed and the skytrain came to a standstill.
By yesterday much of the snow had melted, all the roads were clear and downtown Vancouver displayed no evidence of any of the white stuff at all. This morning things were much different! The entire lower mainland was blasted once again with snow, this time even the city core and once again paralysis set in. Because this is such an unusual weather pattern in this part of Canada, the cities and boroughs don’t have an army of snowplows on hand and it is rare to see a vehicle with snow tires on it.
Our complex has no snow removal equipment (other than a shovel and a bag of salt) and no contracted snow removal company on standby. Consequently the incline to get up from the underground parking lot is slippery and difficult to maneuver on so yours truly made the decision to do what many of the suburban schools have done... declare a snow day. No work today for Laura and I! Rick and Bill made their way to the shop today (the joys of business ownership) but things are slow and Laura and I are not being missed at all. This is a picture Rick took on Saturday morning at the shop, I suppose an indication of the weather that was to come...red sky in the morning....
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