All-time record snows creating havoc in Canada

[This was written by Joseph D'Aleo, CCM, at ICECAP]

There are many media reports on the impact of the records snows. This one from the Agence France-Presse is entitled “Record Snowfall Provokes ‘Snow Rage’ in Canada.” A record snowfall in eastern Canada this winter has inspired some, crushed others, led to a rash of snow-blower thefts and incited at least two armed clashes, authorities said Wednesday.

Police and psychologists describe the latter incidents as “snow rage,” akin to road rage or assaults by frustrated drivers in traffic. Quebec City police say they received more than a dozen calls this winter from warring neighbors upset that snow was being shoveled onto their driveway or sidewalk by the folks next door.

The city was buried this winter in a record 460 centimeters (183 inches) of snow, and is running out of places to put the fluffy white powder until spring arrives and it melts.

In nearby Montreal, where residents are recovering from a ninth major snowstorm this season, a man was charged this week with threatening a fellow motorist with a toy gun over a rare parking spot on a snow-clogged street.

And in likely the worst case, an elderly Quebec City man pulled a 12-gauge shotgun on a female snowplow operator on Sunday for blowing snow onto his property, after warning her.

“How can you fight a three-ton snow-blower?” he told the Globe and Mail newspaper, accusing her of trying to run him over with the plow. “It takes a man who stands up.”

“People are sick of snow,” Quebec police spokeswoman Sandra Dion told AFP.

In this story, in the Montreal Gazette, entitled “City Close to Breaking Snow Record” they reported, “So far this winter, 347 centimetres of snow has fallen in Montreal. The city needs another 37 centimetres of snow to break the record of 383 centimetres of snowfall set in 1971.”

“It is only March 10 so we still have a chance to break the record,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Andre Cantin. “It is common to get big storms in March and last year we received 15 centimetres in April.”

Finally this story by the UK Met Office, we read, “Thick ice in the port of Sydney, Nova Scotia, resulted in a ferry being blocked, coast guard officials have said. United Press International reported on March 19th that a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker headed to the port to assist the vessel on Wednesday.”