MANGO SNOWS
MANGO SNOWS
MANGO SNOWS

It has been really cold in Winnipeg. One of our friends suggested that we change the name of our blog in keeping with the low temperatures here but we prefer to keep it as Mango Rains because that sounds so much warmer.

Last week Wednesday, the weather was really, really cold. At 6:00 AM it was -34 C with a Wind Chill which made it the equivalent of -50 C! In the newspaper it said that at that same time Winnipeg weather was even colder than the North Pole (-27 C) and the South Pole (-26 C).

So how do Winnipegers cope?

School Buses were canceled for safety reasons. If the bus were to break down and the children are not properly dressed, they could get hurt or die.

Streets: The streets were really slippery because they have become polished into large sheets of ice from all the drivers. City work crews put down sand to stop the slipping.

Tow Trucks: Many people have trouble starting their cars on very cold days. The oil and engine gets sluggish. Tow trucks will come and help you but with the high demand, there is sometimes a 4 hour (or more) wait. Radio stations give reports on how long you will have to wait if you call a tow truck.

Construction workers: Projects are still going ahead but workers are slower than on warm days because their fingers are numb with cold. They cope by taking frequent breaks and using tarps to make tents around the projects which are then heated.

Mail: The mail still gets delivered. Letter carriers take breaks in restaurants or in cars.

Homeless people: There are about 2000 homeless people in Winnipeg and they go to special drop-in shelters when it gets really cold like this.

Most of this info was from the Winnipeg Free Press for Thursday, Jan 15, 2009