Okay, except for the gale-force winds and driving rain of the last few days down here in Cardiff, we haven’t really had a taste of winter yet. Even with the wild weather, the temperatures have not been all that bad.

Which, together with the Canadian Tire thread the other day, has got me to thinking about my hometown of Winnipeg. So first a post comes up on Facebook saying that Winnipeg has been listed in National Geographic’s top destinations for 2016, then a news report on today’s weather.

Travel with me, then, and get a taste of a late-November day by taking a look at this CBC report, and scrolling down to the 18 pictures they have provided in glorious large format.

That, friends, is what I left behind. 8)

You left Winnipeg for Cardiff? Well, it takes all sorts!

I’ve never been to Canada, but would absolutely love to. Pick ups, mountain bikes, American food but not in America… why did you leave?

So wish we had snow like that here. It would properly sort some required natural selection for some of the idiots on the roads!

haven’t really had a taste of winter yet

That’ll be because its still autumn for another month .

Both the ‘diff and the ‘peg have their attractions I am sure, you are better than Wales at hockey we are better at rugby 😆

I’d move to Cardiff to if I had to encounter all that snow too, brrrrrr

The Jeep on its roof is not a great advertisment 😆

nippy

I had a drive like that once on the A90 just south of Aberdeen. Comical!

Can’t see much snow there.

Just looks like idiots who can’t drive……… ;o)

ghostlymachine – Member

Can’t see much snow there.

Shitloads of ice though I reckon. Especially once it gets cold enough for the salt to stop working.

Friend of mine moved to Edmonton, I remember googling it and discovering that they thought they had a warm climate compared to Winnipeg because they get 140 frost free days a year and their average winter temperature is a soaring -10.

That’ll be because its still autumn for another month .

This.

Any pictures of some proper snowfalls instead the slight dusting on those ones?

Maybe something like this.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/dPyYcA]Got a bit bleak on the moors[/url]

Shitloads of ice though I reckon. Especially once it gets cold enough for the salt to stop working.

Studded tyres or just proper winter tyres or don’t drive like a dick?
We’re just coming into the loony weeks here, sunny and bright during the day, sheet ice before the sun comes up. I daresay i’ll see a few idiots in the ditch before everyone gets round to putting their winter tyres on. Just hope they don’t take too many people with them.

CheesybeanZ – Member

haven’t really had a taste of winter yet

That’ll be because its still autumn for another month .

Yeah, down here in south Wales we don’t tend to get really badly hit by winter. Unless you’re up in the hills it rarely gets worse than endless grey days with a few months of drizzle and single-digit temperatures and this doesn’t normally happen until December.

Every year I have the same conversation with my kids when the snowy Xmas ads appear on the TV. “We live in south Wales, it doesn’t snow here.” “But Dad, it snowed a few years ago.”

But we’ve seen more snowfall in my middle daughter’s 8 years than in the rest of my middle-aged lifetime.

So next time everyone complains about snow disruption and goes on about how other countries can handle it just fine, can we show them this thread?

Snow DOES cause trouble in other countries, they just don’t incessantly whine about it like we seem to do.

Just looks like idiots who can’t drive……… ;o)

My wife’s cousin in Minnesota just had some heavy snow showers, and reported the same thing. Lots of crap drivers in the US, also lots of cheap rubbish tyres and RWD cars, lots of people spin off, life goes on.

They make roads with huge flat verges so people can spin off, end up on the verge or central reservation (median) and everyone else keeps on driving!

Where are you from ghostly? I don’t think the canadians need any lessons on living in a cold climate tbh.

Do you like Venetian Snares?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_Is_a_Frozen_Shithole

I don’t think the canadians need any lessons on living in a cold climate tbh.

Except for those lorry drivers and the chap in the Jeep.

my hometown of Winnipeg

Now I know what all your dreams and nightmares look like – I bought them on DVD a few months back.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY9BtROpNQ4[/video]

So the conclusion is that people who see regular snow (and ought not to be surprised by it) are as badly equipped to drive in it as Brits after a light sprinkling on the A14?

Fair enough

In my experience, there is a lot of overlap in skill.

Skilled US drivers are ok in it, as are skilled UK drivers. Numpties are useless the world over. There might be more skilled US drivers as a proportion of total drivers, I’m not sure.

The one particular journey I’m thinking of would’ve been gridlock if it hadn’t been for wide verges. I saw about four or five cars spin off in an hour’s drive.

are as badly equipped to drive in it as Brits after a light sprinkling on the A14?

To be fair to users of the A14, when it does snow most BMW drivers back off to a safe distance of at least 9″.

Those picture seem to say different.

Where are you from ghostly?

From? Not really relevant but currently living in Scandinavia. And a good number of people need hints and tips about driving in less than ideal conditions over here too.

maccruiskeen – Member

Now I know what all your dreams and nightmares look like – I bought them on DVD a few months back.

I thought that was a brilliant film. Perhaps because we spent so many months in the dark, but there is something very haunting about Winnipeg that I think Maddin captures perfectly. And the seances were real.

As for driving, it was always my experience that it took about a week after the first major snowfall for people to acclimatise. There was the inevitable string of accidents in November (or October), and then people would get used to it.

I have told this story on here before, but my uncle once told me when I said I wanted to buy a 4×4 that I ‘didn’t need a bloody 4×4. What I needed were some good tires [sic], and some skill!’ And I have lived by that since.

He was someone who took all his kids out to a frozen lake for a day after they got their licenses, and made them learn how to throw a car around and control it on ice. Consequently, I did the same.

ghostlymachine – Member

Those picture seem to say different.

Nope. All they say is that sometimes bad conditions arrive when you’re not expecting them.

There was the inevitable string of accidents in November (or October), and then people would get used to it.

Yeah, we have that here, rather than the endless string of accidents we seemed to get in the UK…….

Nope. All they say is that sometimes bad conditions arrive when you’re not expecting them.

What snow in November?

Yeah, snow in Winnipeg (Winterpeg as it has been called in the past) in the winter. Completely unexpected……..

To be fair to users of the A14, when it does snow most BMW drivers back off to a safe distance of at least 9″

Think they mis-understood the safe gap of three car lengths as three cock lengths 😉

He was someone who took all his kids out to a frozen lake for a day after they got their licenses, and made them learn how to throw a car around and control it on ice.

In the absence of frozen lakes we have to make do with a slightly snowy B&Q car park. I always take the chance to hone my car handling skills (and J turns) when the oppertunity arises 😀

In Finland the snow always catched a few people out, mainly in Helsinki if you listen to my friends. Then they put their heads into winter driving mode and seem to cope fine.

Sounds stupid but they have a different kind of snow to us, you can’t make snow balls out of it. Way to powdery and dry.

Doesn’t sound stupid at all, Pigface. The differences in snow-type can be vast.

The snow you see in those Winnipeg pictures is very dry, and will accumulate over a couple of blizzards, then remain for months with a crisp outer shell and powder underneath.

It’s not for nothing that the Inuit are said to have 50 words for snow.

Snow is amazingly complex and varied. When I was there I’m not sure I ever saw them plough the main road near my house, the snow just got pulverized and blew away so it stayed clear and dry.

And that’s one reason (of many) why we have traffic chaos here in the snow. It’s wet snow, and a lot more slippery. And it then often freezes up overnight.

A few years ago the snow came down pretty heavily during Hit the North.
Everyone pulled (or rather pushed) together and got most if not all the vehicles out of the carpark and back down the long narrow lane.
I had a bit of fun when the series 5 in front of me was all over the place. Sliding back down the easy inclines and giving the car some big revs. I just gave him lots of room and trundled along in a big gear, horray for winter tyres, also our Swedish car and before I knew it I was safely back onto main roads.
My auntie who lives in Zurich where its compulsory to have winter tyres on after beginning October, says there are always lots of bad driving and accidents in the snow.