Coping with Snow Storm 2022

In Schreiber, everyone likes to talk about the “Storm of ’96”. That was the year of the most snow ever on recollection and is easily verified when browsing over old photos in the library archives. The Trans Canada Highway through Schreiber was impassable for three days. Snow drifts reached up as far as the second story of some homes. A lot of snow over a short period that lasted for a long time. Although there hasn’t been a major storm on that scale for decades, the year 2022 could be considered a close second place for the title of most snow. 

Living in the North, one expects to encounter plenty of the white stuff and every year municipalities along the North Shore region have to be prepared, financially and physically, for what winter might throw at them. One of the biggest obstacles to any clean up crew facing the aftermath of a huge storm is just where to put that much snow. Often it has to be trucked away in most cases to make room for more to come. A large portion of any towns budget is spent annually on snow removal. Keeping the streets clear for traffic and pedestrians is necessary for the everyday operation of most small towns in this area. Winters can be long and harsh and the first falling snow might arrive as soon as October in some cases and there have even been reports of snow storms occurring in early May. Six months of winter can happen up here but is often the exception. 

This year, residents of Schreiber both welcomed and cursed the first snowfall. For many it means a chance to go outside and explore our beautiful frozen lakes and forests on snowmobile or snowshoe, but it also means having to get outside and shovelling tons of snow away just to find your car. That is why almost every home in Schreiber is equipped with a snowblower, a noisy machine that aims to make the clean up process that much easier.

After the last big blizzard, Kim Krause from the Schreiber Media Centre, set out to see how people were coping with the weather and the mess left behind from “Snow Storm 2022”.

The lack of space to pile snow and limited resources available resulted in some quite picturesque mountainscapes. A mini enclave of snow packed mountains began popping up all over town creating the illusion of a miniature version of the Swiss Alps. People could be seen on every corner pushing their snow blowing machines around their properties in an attempt to reclaim ground space from the weather gods. Mother Nature has blessed Schreiber with an abundance of snow this year but Spring will soon be arriving and the warm rays of sunshine and plus degree temperatures will make way for another one of the town’s memorable events, the flooding of the basements due to excessive snow melt. The people of Schreiber are a hardy bunch and like every year the last storm will slip into a distant memory, unless of course there is another storm like the winter of ’96!