Tag: snow

What to do to Clear Snow and Ice from the Driveway, Toronto, Canada?

Frozen tulip, Toronto, Canada. I hope it will survive. 2018 Apr 15. Photo 8 by Don Tai

After a lifetime of shoveling snow from driveways and living in Toronto, Canada, it is rare that I am unsure what steps to take. This current weather pattern is increasingly odd. We have had rain, freezing rain, high wind, and now followed by a lot more rain. So, what to do?

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Storm Drain and their Cleanup, Toronto, Canada

Like most large cities, Toronto, Canada has storm drains. These drains help remove excess water from the area after a heavy rainfall. Usually forgotten until needed this unsung system requires very little maintenance. Here is what is done in Toronto.

Storm drains are located on both sides of the street, about 6 houses apart, or 120′ between drains. In the past the storm drain cover was parallel to the road and sidewalk, but this was problematic for cyclists, who would get their tires caught in the drain cover. Now the cover openings are diagonal from the curb to the middle of the street. Storm drain covers are cast of heavy iron and do rust.

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Wet Snow Day in Toronto, Canada, Feb 27 2013

Wet snowfall in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday Feb 27 2013. Note the thickness of the snow on the trees. The temperature was about 0C. Photo by Don Tai

We are Canadian and therefore we have winter. In winter we often get snow and did we ever get a dumping this Wednesday here in Toronto, Canada. We got about 20 cm of snow at 0C to -2C, making for very wet and heavy snow. Wet snow is difficult to remove because it is heavy with water. Still it really looked pretty outside.

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When You Must Shovel Snow off your Driveway

A +4C snowfall followed by a -4C overnight freeze turns heavy, wet snow into ice that has the consistency of concrete.

We are from Toronto, Canada, and most of Canada regularly gets snow during the winter. As the snow falls from the sky it accumulates. This accumulation must be removed from the streets, sidewalks and private driveways in order for cars to safely drive on the street and for people to be able to safely walk on the sidewalk. There are times when you can leave the snow on your driveway and clear it away some time later, but in some specific conditions, waiting even 6 hours can make the job multiple times more difficult. These conditions include above freezing temperatures while the snow falls, followed by a quick below 0C freeze overnight, turning wet, heavy snow into a large block of ice.

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Snow Happiness

This morning the sun arose just a little bit earlier. It was brighter outside than usual. The kids were just a little happier, and walk with a little more skip in their step. They are more eager to go to school and play with their friends. In fact we are all a little brighter than usual. It snowed last night.

___It’s magical that a sprinkling of 5 cm of new snow can transform our landscape, and with it the spirits of our neighborhood. New snow is pristine, covering everything with a whitewash of, well, white. It’s as if some gigantic bottle of baby powder was evenly sprinkled on everything. A landscape of white greets your senses, with only a hint of green showing from our evergreens, who have the ability to partially shed their coat of snow.

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Driveway Snowbanks are over 5′ high

Driveway, sidewalk and snowbank, on S's side

In true Canadian spirit, we must talk about snow and winter. This winter is unique in that while it has snowed a little more than an average year, there has been very little melt. This means that, not surprisingly, the snow accumulates. In downtown Toronto, snow may be carted off in trucks to a local park and dumped, but in most residential areas, it is simply too expensive.

My neighbour S has a snow service that clears his driveway with a truck. The truck has a plow and scrapes the snow backwards towards the street. Once on the street the snow is pushed up onto the side of the curb.

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Life Lessons from…Tobogganing

As usual the little one was bored. The boring list includes: full internet and computer games, more Lego than you can shake a stick at, robots, Hotwheels, books, the list goes on and on.

I suggest tobogganing. What could be more Canadian than tobogganing? At -10C the weather is not too cold nor too windy. ‘Bogganing is healthy and relatively safe. We head off to the local large and medium hills, side by side. The sun is shining and we climb and make one on the medium and four on the large, all great runs.

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Snow Day, 20cm accumulation

Gonggong's bicycle snowed in

A whole lot of snow has fallen in Toronto, and I’ve been shoveling once last night and twice today. While the temperatures are -4C and the snow is fluffy, it looks like around 20cm, which builds up and becomes heavy. It is not cold outside.

Crabapple tree in winter

The trees have snow but not ice.

Icicles by security light

We have some icicles growing from various parts of the eavestrough that are melting, so there’s a constant drip, drip onto the snow outside. They will freeze solid tonight. The kids want them to eat, but they’re too high up and when you crack them off you don’t want to be underneath when they fall.

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