Getting cold...

[Jess]

The concern about clearing roofs is a valid one. Once it warms up, the load will become more than most standard designs can handle. Years ago, I lived in big snow country at Kitimat B.C. where a snow day put 4' on the driveway that had to be cleared every morning. Coming from balmy Victoria B.C. I was somewhat ignorant of the need to clear my roof, but fortunately my new neighbours convinced me to get at it and showed me how to take equal amounts off each side to balance the load equally. The next day, a house up the street had a cave in causing serious damage. Suddenly, everyone was clearing roofs. Later, when I had the opportunity to get into the attic, I discovered that the roof trusses were all 2x6 spaced on 12" centres, which was necessary for the design load in that area. There was hardly any attic, it was all lumber! We did however, neglect the garden shed and it was flattened along with all my fancy redwood garden furniture. The first winter was all snow shovel, but the following one I had a big assed snow blower because I couldn't toss the snow high enough by the end of the season. When I accepted the posting, I was impressed by all the open green space in the city. My the end of March, All those areas were full of snow, piled up 30ft high from clearing adjacent areas. Our contractor used a D6 to push back the pile because the big loaders couldn't push it back any more. By the start of any business day, we had all the paved areas cleared.
The city has snow removal which is second to none. Graders cleared from curb to a windrow in the centre of the road and big Sicard blowers dropped it on the front lawns missing all the walks and driveways. By 8am, the sidewalks were clear and kids could walk to school as if had never snowed the previous night. The piles on our lawns remained until May, when we broke up the iceberg with a sledge hammer, shoveled up the sand and mowed the grass. Ahh, the memories....
Stay safe and warm wherever you are. Jess

[Master Yota]

Sounds about right Jess. As a kid I have pictures somewhere of the loader piled snow in our Cul-de-sac. As a 5 year old, it was my Mount Everest. The view of the neighborhood was great as I perched my butt on the top of the street light globe...much to the chagrin of my screeching mother who was convinced I was going to kill myself if I didn't return to tera-firma asap...