Residents have mixed reaction to winter's latest offering

Kim Scobak loves winter and welcomed Thunder Bay’s most recent snowfall with open arms.

“It’s refreshing. It extends our cross-country ski season and it’s great. It’s what winter’s all about in Thunder Bay,” she said, taking a brief break from shoveling the walkway in front of her north side home on Wednesday.

An estimated 20 centimetres or more fell on the city on Tuesday, a storm that lasted well into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Keith Simons was left cleaning up the aftermath, but like Scobak, didn’t seem to mind too much.

“I’m probably a little bit of the oddity,” he said. “I like winter. I think it’s one of the best seasons. There’s a lot more that you can do in winter than you can in summer, except for the snow shoveling. If it wasn’t for this, it would be great.”

Simons was forced to do things the old-fashioned way on Wednesday, after a technological failure.

“It’s light, it’s easy and it’s fluffy so it’s not too bad,” he said, shovel in hand. “I had a little trouble with the snowblower this morning. I’m just doing my girlfriend’s grandmother's right now. I worked the night shift last night, so I’m just trying to finish up and go home and go to bed.”

Wayne Vanderyet wasn’t quite as big a fan.

“I’m tired of moving it. At least I have a snow-blower and don’t have to shovel it,” he said. 

Thunder Bay Police said they had received about 15 calls on traffic related mishaps, but told CKPR radio they expect they’ll see more weather-related collisions self-reported later in the day.

The snow forced school buses off the road and closed rural schools.

City plows have arterial routes cleared and are working on residential streets at this time.