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Rubber and roads
Nov. 2nd, 2021 08:19 amI live somewhere cold and reasonably wet. Our occasional extreme low (not to long ago the regular low) in winter is sort of -40 (which is both Celsius and Ferenheit, it's where the streams cross). We get maybe 3m of snow falling over the course of a winter, which is maybe 1m of accumulation at the height of winter. Snow is much more variable than rain, of course, with density and thus volume fluctuating wildly. Still, what I'm trying to say is that there's white stuff on the ground for six months.
We're connected by a few ribbons of pavement. There are groceries in town, gas stations, an insurance agent and a dentist. There's a dollar store and a department store and an auto parts store, two mechanics and two hardware stores. There is a medical clinic. Prices in general are higher here but it's possible to order in what can't be bought in town and to not leave much. Most people drive into the bigger city pretty frequently though: there are bigger stores, variety in stores, bulk discounts, a movie theatre, restaurants, bank branches, optometrists and orthodontists and physiotherapists. Few people out here are strangers to driving in winter conditions. They (we?) are used to navigating roads that are marked by two dark tire strips in a flat white expanse, sorta guessing where lanes are when the plough hasn't gone by yet, taking it easy and slow when the roads are slippery.
Or we're supposed to be.
Thing is, a vehicle with snow tires in -20 handles basically normally. The snow/ice is cold enough to either blow off the road or stick to it like more concrete. Winter tire substance is sticky at low temperatures, unlike summer tires, and so it adheres to the road much like summer tires do to a summer road. It's pretty reasonable, especially if you choose to drive in the brief window of daylight.
In the shoulder seasons snow is wet and slippery, half-frozen. Not everyone has their snow tires on yet and snow tires aren't entirely built for water over melting ice anyhow. Everyone has seemingly forgotten how to drive in this, which is fair: it's only for a total of maybe two months a year. This morning it snowed here; in the city it rained-then-froze, which is black ice, and then snowed overtop. Here was sloppy driving to work and I got to play with the Tundra's 4hi since I won't have my winters on till Saturday. In the city was a ten car pile-up and closing down a major highway intersection (the city is the crossroads of the two highways up here, one of which runs north-south and the other which runs east-west).
The first couple years I drove 20km to work and 20km back and was pretty nervous around this time of year. It's the sort of weather when my rollover accident happened and I'm both a relatively new driver and relatively new up north. Then I moved workplaces and also it was covid so I had a shorter drive when I drove in at all. Today I came in for the first time in awhile because work is offering a free flu shot. Turns out the nurse administering the shots is coming in from the city.
We'll see if she shows. Meanwhile I'm here in the office, wearing my fancy opal ring with the leaf on it, looking out the window at the light skim of snow over everything and the sun rising over the lake.
We're connected by a few ribbons of pavement. There are groceries in town, gas stations, an insurance agent and a dentist. There's a dollar store and a department store and an auto parts store, two mechanics and two hardware stores. There is a medical clinic. Prices in general are higher here but it's possible to order in what can't be bought in town and to not leave much. Most people drive into the bigger city pretty frequently though: there are bigger stores, variety in stores, bulk discounts, a movie theatre, restaurants, bank branches, optometrists and orthodontists and physiotherapists. Few people out here are strangers to driving in winter conditions. They (we?) are used to navigating roads that are marked by two dark tire strips in a flat white expanse, sorta guessing where lanes are when the plough hasn't gone by yet, taking it easy and slow when the roads are slippery.
Or we're supposed to be.
Thing is, a vehicle with snow tires in -20 handles basically normally. The snow/ice is cold enough to either blow off the road or stick to it like more concrete. Winter tire substance is sticky at low temperatures, unlike summer tires, and so it adheres to the road much like summer tires do to a summer road. It's pretty reasonable, especially if you choose to drive in the brief window of daylight.
In the shoulder seasons snow is wet and slippery, half-frozen. Not everyone has their snow tires on yet and snow tires aren't entirely built for water over melting ice anyhow. Everyone has seemingly forgotten how to drive in this, which is fair: it's only for a total of maybe two months a year. This morning it snowed here; in the city it rained-then-froze, which is black ice, and then snowed overtop. Here was sloppy driving to work and I got to play with the Tundra's 4hi since I won't have my winters on till Saturday. In the city was a ten car pile-up and closing down a major highway intersection (the city is the crossroads of the two highways up here, one of which runs north-south and the other which runs east-west).
The first couple years I drove 20km to work and 20km back and was pretty nervous around this time of year. It's the sort of weather when my rollover accident happened and I'm both a relatively new driver and relatively new up north. Then I moved workplaces and also it was covid so I had a shorter drive when I drove in at all. Today I came in for the first time in awhile because work is offering a free flu shot. Turns out the nurse administering the shots is coming in from the city.
We'll see if she shows. Meanwhile I'm here in the office, wearing my fancy opal ring with the leaf on it, looking out the window at the light skim of snow over everything and the sun rising over the lake.
