Just interesting notes and pictures from our travels.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Dealing with snow/Уборка снега

Northern Japan had a snowy weekend. This is normal though for January, so people are used to it. It does not get too cold, about 20F at a minimum. At the same time, warm temperatures make snow wet and heavy.

Выходные выдались снежными на севере Японии. Тем не менее, это нормальная погода для января, и местные жители к этому привыкли. На улице не так уж и холодно, температура не падает ниже -7 градусов Цельсия. Зато такая погода делает снег мокрым и тяжелым.
    

 Snow does not help navigate the roads that are already barely big enough to fit one car in each direction. The roads also rarely have shoulders, and piled snow on the side makes driving very interesting. And this is a prefectural road. Not a highway, but not a back road either.

Японские дороги и без снега дороги неширокие, в некоторых местах две машины едва-едва могут разойтись. Отсутствие обочин усугубляет ситуацию, снегоуборочному оборудованию его особо некуда убирать. И это дорога уровня префектуры (области). Не шоссе, конечно, но и не переулок.


These drainage holes always seem to have no snow on them. As it turns out, there is a good reason for it.

Кажется что вот на таких сливных колодцах никогда нет снега. Оказывается, этому есть объяснение.

As it turns out, the drainage hole covers open up and all the snow gets dumped in there. There is a small basement with hot water pipes and drainage. The snow falls onto pipes and melts thus making more room. These basements are built-to-order and are a bit pricy, but come in very handy in snowy winters. Usually if there is such a basement in the house, it means that the house is heated with water.

Как оказалось, колодцы открываются и местные жители сваливают весь снег туда. В таком колодце находится небольшой подвал с горячими трубами. Снег падает на трубы и тает, а потом вода утекает дальше в систему канализации. Такой подвал недешев и строится на заказ. Но зато он очень пригождается снежной зимой. Зачастую если есть такой подвал, значит дом отапливается горячей водой.


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