Early Start to Winter

Hallowe'en night brought flurries that continued on and off for the next day days.  It started snowing in earnest - fine, icy beads of it - on the evening of the 3rd and didn't stop until yesterday morning. We got over 20cm of snow.  The ground wasn't frozen, so shoveling paths around the house was slow (the shovel caught on the leaves and grass) and I'm sure it made for tricky driving on the dirt roads outside of town.  School buses were canceled yesterday, though the schools in this region stay open no matter how much snow or freezing rain falls or how insanely cold it gets. (No, it doesn't make sense to me, either.)