The in between winter

Ken Johnston

Slippery when wet.
Well that was definitely the case on Monday after rain and melting and a bit of snow mixed to cover the sidewalks and streets.
It was like grease and I know I nearly fell a few times just walking three blocks home from the office.
Mother Nature needs to make up her mind. Are we going to have a full blown cold and snowy winter? Or a warm and rainy Vancouver type of winter?
The in between stuff just is not conducive to people’s safety.
Many people were out salting their sidewalks trying to keep them safe, but in many cases the salt melted through the surface leaving quite a bit of ice behind to try and get across. In some cases it did

melt into water, but then froze later in the day when temperatures dropped; creating the slippery terrain surely destined to break some bones.
I can not remember a winter where it has been so in between for so much of the winter. Really we have only had about three weeks of real winter. The rest has been in between. The first evidence of that just melted last week. Under much of the snow there was about half an inch of ice from the rain we had in December that froze.
So until Mother Nature makes up her mind be very careful out there. Either that or get some chains/ cleats or strap on skates for your boots.
–Until then,
Ken