[SGVLUG] OT: Snow

[Chris Smith]

On 11/17/05, Dustin <laurence at alice.caltech.edu> wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Nov 2005, Chris Smith wrote:
>
> > Well, there are tricks for dealing with lower temperatures too.
> > Calcium based salts will get you a bit rather (and do a bit more road
> > damage),
>
> Doesn't matter much at 40 below. :-)  Yeah, you can use sand, but not that
> easily in a state with a couple of people per square mile.

Hmm.. Canada has less than 4 times the population of Montana, but is
more than 24 times its size. Despite this, we find ways to get sand or
the new fangled glass stuff on the road even in some of the sparsely
populated areas (certainly not everywhere).

> > So, I think this is where we might be seeing things differently.
> > Certainly, out here along the rockies, you can easily run in to
> > situations where chains are an absolute requirements, but along the
> > Canadian shield and Appalachian chains, it tends to be necessary far
> > less often if you have snow tires and clue one about driving in snow.
>
> Hmm.  I'd say if the area is flat, civilized enough to be ploughed and
> near services, and you rarely get a few feet dropped all at once in a
> blizzard, you should never need chains.  If at least one of those isn't
> true, then frankly I wouldn't let a child of mine drive around with
> chains.  They're an insurance policy you hope not to use, kind of like a
> spare tire.

Hmm, my parent's cottage is up in northern Ontario. The area is hilly
(anyone from around here would laugh if I said mountainous ;-). It is
civilized enough that a few of the local residents pool together money
to privately pay someone to plow the roads. As for near services, I
guess it depends on your definitions of "near" and "services". Cell
phone service is within about 20 miles... They have land lines, gas
(at least when the lines don't freeze up) and electricity (no
broadband of course ;). No water or sewage services although those are
available within 20 miles. As far as I know neither my parents nor
many of the local residents use chains (the guy with the plow has some
of course). Of course the roads are narrow, windy, with steep drop
offs if you go over the side. Now, my parents did get stuck once when
they were still using the roads, but other than that things seem to go
surprisingly well.

That said, I'd love it if they'd stock some chains in their vehicles.

> > In the flat areas they are even less necessary. In Ontario you need to
> > go at least as far north as Ottawa (the snowiest and second coldest
> > capital in the world until the Cold War ended and created a bunch of
> > frozen fiefdoms) to hear people talking about chains with any kind of
> > frequency.
>
> Hmm.  I'd guess if you go out of town that isn't so true.  I imagine
> Canadian cowboys are just as prepared to deal with anything themselves as
> Montana cowboys are.

Yeah, I'm sure it's about the same. It's not the *having* chains that
I think is odd (that's just being careful/rational). It's the
occassions on which said chains actually get used that seems peculiar
down here. I don't know about Montana, but in the north east it seems
like they start pulling them out anytime they are leaving the "city"
and there's more than a couple of inches of snow on the ground.

--
Chris