Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘winter’

Here’s an explanation for the unusually cold weather in parts of North America and Europe lately:

The folks who run the National Center for Atmospheric Research have a great rundown of the details of the AO Oscillation. In short, high pressure in the Arctic forces the jet stream south, and it drags cold air with it, chilling North American and northern Eurasia. In its opposite mode, those same regions tend to be much warmer. Right now, we’re in such an extreme high-pressure event that the readings have run off the scale of NOAA’s AO index. Fortunately for those hoping to warm up a bit, the AO is a weather event—it often changes states multiple times within a single season, and there’s no clear evidence linking its behavior to climate trends.

(Hat tip: Sera).

Yesterday was Winter Solstice, and everyone’s been feeling the lack-of-daylight blahs. The cold temperatures aren’t helping, either. Winter came on fast and strong this year, and people seem to have hibernated more quickly than usual. Or maybe that’s just winter amnesia speaking (that same curious syndrome that makes people drive like idiots in the first annual snowfall – what, you thought winter wouldn’t come this year?)

With only a few days till Christmas, people are scrambling to finish their shopping and their preparations before heading out to visit their families. Or else they’re pack for all-inclusive trips south to a sun destination. For me, it’s none of the above – but I am very much looking forward to a few days off to catch up on my sleep. That is, if I can manage not to get sick in the meantime.

The good news – other than the Habs’ two wins in a row, that is  – is that from today onwards, the days start getting longer.

Spotted around downtown Montreal in the minus-20-feels-like-minus-30-with-the-windchill weather:

• A cyclist (you have to be pretty hardcore to cycle in this weather) wearing a full ski helmet, ski goggles, and a ski face mask, every inch of his face protected against the cold.
• Two women, both wearing their jacket hoods with faux fur pulled over their face and eyes, walk smack into each other in a pedestrian head-on collision, neither one willing to brave the wind enough to watch where she is going. They apologize, of course.
• The underground city tunnels about as crowded I’ve ever seen them, full of pedestrians who, like me, have decided that walking through shopping malls and government buildings is preferable to braving the cold for too long.
• A man belatedly stringing up Christmas lights outside a storefront, cursing and swearing to himself as he tries to assemble them without removing his gloves. Good luck with that, buddy.
• The guy handing out the free metro paper outside Square-Victoria metro is reportedly sporting a runny-nose moustache.
• Endless greetings in multiple languages that are variations on “F—, it’s cold!”

I love winter. But I love it more when it’s warm enough to snow. Where’s this global warming thing that they keep talking about, anyway?

This is what happens when it snows in England.

• The new Montreal transit chief – get this – actually uses public transit! What a concept! He’s even promised to ride the bus out to the west island to see for himself what a disaster the system is out there. Will it lead to improvements? Stay tuned.
• Meanwhile in Ottawa, citizens who’ve been held hostage by the OC Transpo strike, now in its 51st day, might get a reprieve in the form of back to work legislation. For their sake, here’s hoping.
• Back in Montreal, the snow removal crews walked off the job in the middle of a blizzard just in time for afternoon rush hour yesterday. They’re upset because of a payment dispute, and, as is typical for union workers, they believe that gives them the right to endanger people’s lives.
• In more union news, York University students head back in class this week after the government passed legislation forcing striking CUPE members back to work after nearly three months. But, as new blogger Chris reports, this may be only the tip of the iceberg.
• More strikes in France? So what else is new?

Quebec’s mandatory winter tire law comes into effect on Monday. If you’re driving with all-season or summer tires, you’ll officially be breaking the law in less than a week. And I, for one, am sick of all the whining and complaining about this law.

On principle, I usually oppose excess government regulation, especially when there’s scant evidence that it is warranted (e.g. the handheld cell phone ban, which has popular but virtually no evidentiary support). But, unlike that law, I happen to think that this one is very sensible.

Look, people, it’s quite simple. In Quebec, we have winter. Winter means lots of snow. And ice. And cold. If you’re driving in that weather without proper winter tires, you’re not only endangering yourself, you’re endangering everyone else on the road. The rubber compound in winter tires is designed for the cold temperatures, and the tread provides more traction on snow and ice. Last winter, 10% of cars on the road didn’t have winter tires, but they accounted for 38% of accidents. Driving without winter tires in winter isn’t safe. Period.

There are provisions made for people who store their cars or go south for the winter. There was plenty of warning to get equipped. The main difficulty will be in enforcement, and police will probably grapple with that one for a while. But aside from that, it’s a good law, designed to protect drivers and passengers and prevent deaths.

Most of the whining seems to be about the cost of winter tires. But owning and operating a vehicle costs money. Even if you own your car free and clear and are no longer making car payments, there’s insurance, gas, parking, maintenance, all to the tune of thousands of dollars a year. Winter tires will cost you several hundred dollars, true, but you can amortize that cost over several seasons. Plus, you’ll extend the life of your summer tires by only using them for half the year.

Bottom line: The cost of winter tires is a fraction of the total cost of car ownership. If you can’t afford the tires, you shouldn’t be driving a car, so quit whining and get a bus pass. You’ll save thousands and help the environment, too. Otherwise, invest in a good set of winter tires. For your sake, and for everyone else’s.

Bizarre…

As we all know (or ought to, by now), the clocks “fell back” an hour on Saturday night, at least in DST-observing parts of North America.

These guys want to abolish Daylight Saving time and stick to standard time year-round.

I maintain that we should do the opposite.

Daylight Saving doesn’t actually save any daylight, of course, but it does shift an hour later every day. So, darker mornings, lighter evenings.

Of course, there’s not much we can do to alleviate the darkness during the worst months of December/January, when we’re going work in the pitch black and leaving work in the pitch black no matter which way you slice things.

But the rest of the year, we do have the option of extending daylight by an hour more in the mornings or in the evenings. Now, morning people and evening people may disagree. But it seems like it’s a no-brainer that most people would rather have some degree of light after work, when they get things done, go out, see people, stroll around in the evenings, go out for dinner, take their kids to after-school activities… than before work, when all they have to do is get up and go to the office.

There is really no reason why we should change the clocks by an hour twice a year, causing hassles and headaches, when there’s such a simple solution available: Stick to DST all the time. Then, we can have our afternoon daylight for most of the year.

So, all of you out there who are depressed at the 5pm darkness, join me in my campaign. Let’s abolish Standard Time and adopt DST year-round! Who’s with me?

(Meanwhile, it’ll be a while till we see proper amounts of sunlight again, so let’s stock up on those Vitamin D supplements.)

New York State called in the National Guard to Oswego, where they got 141 inches of snow over the past week, and are forecasting more.

In Ohio, snow and ice combined to cause traffic nightmares, travel delays, and the death of a 9-year-old girl.

Meanwhile in Chicago, they got a whopping 8.8 inches of snow… and freaked out. In Oswego, they refer to this as “summer”. It’s all relative.

Here in Montreal, we had temporary amnesia that we’re actually Montrealers, and people massively overreacted to the threat of a snowstorm. Maybe people were afraid we’d get 11 feet of snow, like in Oswego? In any case, the amount of people cancelling plans, closing schools, and panicking over the mere few inches of snow we received is just shameful. It’s just snow, people. We get it every winter. Life goes on.

The skiing should be good this weekend, anyway.

It’s about flippin’ time, too! It’s just not January when you can see the grass.