Snow in montreal

This is my first full winter in montreal. I arrived in march here during the end of winter. 

The first snow fall of the season was on Diwali (it was a mix of snow and rain). Then it really snowed on 25th November.  It was a nice walk on the fresh snow and a slow drive back home. All of that got washed away. It was cold. The winter is here.  It is going to be white for the next 4 months. 

Last week (09 Dec), we had the first real snowfall of the season. Lot of snow, i guess more than 10cms of snow. Then the temp dropped and all the snow froze and there was freezing rain. We did not venture out in the morning as we did not have winter tyres (mandatory in quebec starting this winter) and stayed at home. All the snow froze and we had around 1-2 cms thick ice on the car. We had to scrape the ice from car. It was a tough job lasting for over an hour. If freesing rain happens daily, then it will be too much of work than i can take. Lucking freezing rain happens only once or twice during a year which is good to know. 

After that we have been brushing away the snow on the car daily. Today the temp rose and there was rain and then in the night, the temp start to drop again. Due to this the melted snow became a layer of ice and all the roads had a glossy look on them. Hard to walk but too nice to enjoy. 

The temp has varied from +6 to -18 (+ wind chill) till now. 

Coming to the winter wear, we are coverted from head to toe except for the face. Once you wear the full winter wear, you dont feel much of the cold. Only the face can feel how cold it is out there. Only ice and melting ice makes it hard for driving and also walking on it. Sambhalke walk on ice. 

Never fill air in the car tyres with bare hands at -12 degrees centigrade even if you are going to be out for under a minute or two. I learnt it the hard way. My hands were red and numb for a good 10 minutes. 

We also went to ski bromont. We were there on the opening weekend and as bunny hill was not there to start practicing, we took to the top of the mountain and came down the green trail. The snow was being groomed constantly but the ice was becoming ice. This was making it hard to stop with the skis. Lot of screeching and not much grip to cut through the snow. We went up and came down twice. The first run took around an hour. I was skiing after a gap of two years. The second run down was quicker even though i got too tired. There  was lot of pressure on the knees and the legs as it was hard to stop to slow down. We had fun. It was good being back on skis.