Euronews spoke to Patrick de Bellefeuille, a prominent Canadian weather presenter and climate specialist, on how Europe could benefit from Canada’s long experience with snowstorms. He has been forecasting for MétéoMédia, Canada’s top French-language weather network, since 1988.
Euronews: What are the main Canadian ‘best practices’ for dealing with heavy snowfall?
Patrick de Bellefeuille: Municipal authorities also prepare in advance. They know when snowstorms or freezing rains are coming. Regarding de-icers or abrasives used on streets and sidewalks, there are different types depending on the conditions. For example, if snow has fallen and temperatures drop below -15°C, sand and gravel are used. When temperatures are just below freezing, a salt-based abrasive that melts ice is applied. Authorities plan carefully and use preventive measures whenever possible.
Euronews: Right, but what we saw this week in Brussels and other cities is a snowstorm that caused huge disruptions, as if heavy snow was nearly unprecedented. Schools closed, traffic was chaotic, there were accidents, people slipped—it seemed like a lack of preparation.
Patrick de Bellefeuille: Here in Quebec, we have a law requiring winter tires from December 1 to March 15—it’s mandatory (…). That solves a big problem. We also have five “snow days” in our school system, when children don’t go to school if roads are unsafe. Decisions are based on road conditions: can children safely take school buses? If it’s too dangerous, a snow day is declared. At the end of the school year, if fewer than five snow days are used, school days are adjusted accordingly.
Euronews: What general advice would you give to Europeans to protect themselves from snowstorms? What do Canadians do?
Patrick de Bellefeuille: Even with 20 cm of snow, life goes on here—it’s normal. Our main concern is ice. I prepare by consulting forecasts and planning my day around weather conditions: when it will be worst and how to adapt. Consider public transport: buses have snow tires, which could also be done in Europe. Where winter tires aren’t mandatory, a plan B—like chains on buses—should be in place.
I'm pretty sure Canada knows exactly the same things Scandinavian countries do.
I'm from Denmark, the warmest of the Scandinavian countries, and we've used grovel too when temperatures go below where salt has any effect, but we've also begun to use it because it's more environmentally friendly.
We just had 20cm snow in our 4th largest city, and of course life goes on, with very little disruption.
20 cm may have become rare now here, but it used to be way more common, and obviously in Sweden Norway and Finland it is way way more common than in Denmark.
We also have regulation that if you drive when it's snowing or icy, you must have winter or all season tires on your car.
But if you wait until the roads are cleared, you can still use summer tires. But again we are the warmest of the Scandinavian countries, and conditions here are not as extreme as in Canada, for that the other Scandinavian countries should just about cover it.
It's fine to share knowledge with Canada, we may be able to learn from each other, but there is nothing new in what was posted here. And I bet countries like Austria, Germany Switzerland and even Italy have similar experience with handling snow as we do in Scandinavia.
Europe is not like UK, where they put water pipes on the outside of houses to make them easier to repair when frost make them burst.