Sometime early this morning, I peeked out the darkened windows and saw an unusual brightness touching the landscape – a dull but persistent light shining off the very ground itself. Closer inspection revealed that this phenomenon was caused by snow.

Snow is a meteorological event that can inspire romance on the one hand (there’s nothing quite like curling up under warm blankets while the snow flakes fall from the cold skies outside), or horror on the other. In the latter case, snow becomes a heavy burden that you have to prepare for, move out of out of the way, or travel through.

Having been born in December, I suppose that I should find snow the most delightful thing in the world. However, I tend to agree with the camp of Canadians who think that snow is enjoyable in shorter doses. It’s currently November 8th – and we’ll probably see consistent snowfall (and most assuredly, colder temperatures), until February or even early March.

Differences in precipitation across Canada result in varying levels of snowfall – in Alberta, for example, snowfall levels are slightly lower than Ontario’s snowfall levels because of climate systems like the lake effect. The presence of snow in Canada as a whole has spawned endless stereotypes that we as a culture self-deprecatingly endorse.

Personally, I would be thrilled if Canada were to continue pursuing talks around installing the Overseas Territory of Turks and Caicos Islands as a Canadian province. That way, Canadians frigidly exhausted with the snow could draw straws to determine who gets the privilege of escaping to a tropical paradise in the lengthy, dark days of January and February.