Winter in Edmonton

Winter in Edmonton is best described as awful. I am a cold weather type and it's now late March and I'm so sick of snow it makes me stressed. Winter starts here in November..and the temps rapidly fell to -35C and stayed there..not for days but for MONTHS. I was fortunate that I was living in a place where I have heated underground parking..otherwise I would have not been able to start my car. Nothing sucks more than going out to a cold car and waiting 20 minutes for it to warm up. It gets so cold here..that the car freezes and when it hits a bump in the road it feels like your neck is going to break

Edmonton also SUCKS at cleaning their streets. There are no snowplows in this city at all. The streets get covered with snow and the tires of cars form ruts which freeze in the snow. Once your tires are trapped in these ruts, it's often hard to get out of them..and the bottom of your car scraps the snow. I ripped off a piece of plastic on my bumper because of it.

The odd day when it warms up a bit, the snow in Edmonton streets combines with the sand they toss on the road to create what is..a form of frozen mud. It sticks to everything and gives the appearance of living in a 3rd world nation. I sent pictures to my friends in the east & they were shocked...specially given that Edmonton sits on top of billions of barrels of crude oil and should by all accounts...be rolling in the money. I guess it's going somewhere else

The city also fails to clean the sidewalks as do many people in front of their house. I watched a woman in a wheelchair get stuck in the middle of the street in mid winter and I had to wonder into the street to help her out. She was a senior and clearly stressed by the situation..and I was appalled that no one else got out to help, they just sat in their cars.

The number of injuries from these conditions is also startling. No less than 4 people at work had broken bodies/skulls thanks to the ice. One woman fell and hit her head and was passed out in the snow for over 20 minutes. Another work mate dislocated his shoulder after falling. I too..felt the brunt of winter and tore the tendons in my foot. I spent over 5 weeks limping in crutches thanks to the "sidewalks". If you've never broken a foot, I can't begin to tell you how hard it is to live when you can only limp around. Getting food, washing clothes, etc, are all very trying..and it's exhausting to hobble up the street to Safeway to buy something to eat. It's a 20 minute marathon that should take 5 minutes.

The Edmonton winter gets a 0 out of 5 stars from me. I am VERY glad I won't be here next winter.