I stopped short of the snow-covered object, got out of the car and retrieved it. It was a little dirty and damp, but no one had driven or parked over it. I gave it a few firm shakes to free it of any attached snow. I had recovered my lost scarf. After being washed, I can put it to some use again.

That aside, it snowed another 10 cm near our household and workplace last night. The side roads were a little slippery due to the new snow accumulation, but the main roads and highway were nearly free of any ice. No longer were motorists confined to driving 20 to 40 km/hr. Traffic was finally moving along at the designated street and highway speeds.

With the climate getting warmer today (above 0C!), snow is finally starting to melt, making for safer roads.

I left work at about 6 PM, and lost my fleece scarf in the process of clearing snow off the windshield and rear window of the Accord. Being dark color it is (black), I didn’t notice that it was missing (must have flown off) until I got home. Oh well, I’m not too sentimental about the scarf, but it sure was comfy. I think I picked it up from Whistler two years ago, but I hadn’t used it since. I got three days of use out of it. What a bad investment!

Drivers were fairly patient in the vicinity of our workplace, but the minute I entered the core of the city, someone let the crazies out!? I don’t know what joy some (<1% of population) people get out of quickly accelerating over black ice and then slamming on their brakes. Perhaps, they enjoy the feeling of being ‘free’ for a few mere seconds and then realizing they can’t gain control (offending other drivers and creating a driving hazard). Yes, some (not all) people. It looks wet, like rain, but it’s frozen. Like a popsicle. Hence, black ice. Slipppppery stuff. Argh, if they only understood that.

I guess that’s enough rambling for a day

It didn’t help much.

Roads were still slippery today, especially intersections. Black ice was plentiful. The smell of burnt rubber was in the air.

I didn’t see a single snow plow during my commute this morning and this evening. The local paper reported that the city had been working 24 hours a day clearing roads. Where were they? All of the major intersections in town were still in the same state they were yesterday evening — very slippery.

The Accord sedan I drove didn’t handle the slippery intersections very well, mostly due to a lack of traction control. My RWD G35 actually faired better with traction control enabled. It swayed a little (an inch or two) in the rear, but gained traction within a second and carried on. In contrast, the Accord swayed to the right at two intersections and took several seconds to gain traction at another local intersection. I recall my Accord V6 coupe (same year as G35) exhibiting similar behavior during a winter storm a couple of years ago. In retrospect, I think the 03 Accord’s traction control implementation wasn’t as refined as the one in the 03 G35 (eg. reducing engine output to gain traction and per-wheel torque distribution).

Drivers were fairly patient on the roads and highway yesterday. However, today, some drivers were back to being impatient beings. I mean tailgating while it’s raining is bad enough, but teenagers tailgating cars on icy, slippery roads? That’s just not smart. I had to keep a constant eye on the rearview mirror ensuring no one got to close. As a rule of thumb, whenever possible, I intentionally slow down (slightly) to prevent problems down the road. The last thing you want is someone smacking you in the back when you least expect it.

With more snow in the forecast, it’ll be another slow commute tomorrow morning and evening. At this rate, I may have to scrap my plans for a sedan in the future, and buy an AWD crossover vehicle instead!

In preparation, I hope the snow plows are out and about clearing the major routes tonight.

I took a peek outside. No cars. Over a foot of snow (44 cm to be exact).

Tentative probability of work today: 0%.

I walked downstairs to text message a few of my buddies from work. The response was expected: ‘No, I’m not going in.’

I debated and then decided to take a long, hot shower and eat breakfast.

I got a call at 10:10 to come in to work. I thought about the weather, the roads and my car. I decided to beat the odds and took the risky drive to work. In my RWD car. I got quite a few ‘Are you crazy?’ stares throughout town. I’m thinking, ‘Yes, I AM eccentric and crazy. ‘Some joe-blow-neighbour-that-I’ve-never-seen-nor-met looks at me, and then smiles and waves. I guess he felt the pain. Nevertheless, after a very slow commute, I made it to work (20 km/hr on the main roads; 40 km/hr on the highway following traffic) after an hour.

I remembered something I learned as a kid: “Slow and steady wins the race.” Well, it’s true.

Work went well for the five and a half hours I was there. My productivity level was about 90%. The other ten percent was spent deleting spam. No one else showed up for work.

I left work at 4:45 PM in order to beat rush hour traffic. That didn’t work out too well, as you’ll see.

I got into my car, turned it on, and let it warm up for a good few minutes. I put the car into reverse and gently pushed the accelerator.

A slight kick backward and then forward, followed by no movement.

I pushed the accelerator harder until the VDC clicked in. The RPM never exceeded 1500.

A slight kick backward and then forward, followed by no movement.

I pushed a button to disable VDC. I pushed the accelerator. The rear tires screeched. The RPM redlined at 7000.

No movement. I was truly stuck. In an empty parking lot, that had now turned into a skating rink. I got out to check the clearance around the car while freezing in subzero (-19C to be exact) temperatures.

I gingerly attempted to drive forward (1.5′ clearance to curb).

1. I re-enabled VDC and tapped the accelerator lightly while turning the steering to the right. The car moved.

2. I reversed again while turning the steering to the left. A little movement, but my car was still stuck!

I repeated steps 1 and 2 several times until I could safely rotate my car to the right about 90 degrees.

I drove forward and made it to the stop sign.

I got stuck in some deep snow and ice just before I was about to make a left turn. My ice scraper didn’t even help gain traction.? I was just about to put my BCAA membership to some use. A driver passing by saw me struggling and stopped to offer assistance. We worked out a solution and I was on my way home. I felt bad for the driver that stopped to help me in the frigid weather. I wanted to offer some monetary funds for his help, but he motioned me to drive off before I could. So, Mr. Good Samaritan, if you happen to read this (< 0.1% probability), I have some money for you

Seeing an abandoned 350Z on the commute home made me realize I wasn’t the only guy with RWD issues today!

One thing is for certain: I’ll be driving a FWD car to work until the weather clears up. For the record, I had relatively new high performance, all season tires installed.