Winter is almost here. These last few weeks have been cloudy and rainy with the weather just above freezing. Here in Aizu, there is a lot of preparation visible in anticipation of the first snow.
I have heard that when it starts snowing here, it won't stop for a long time. There are many different supports that have been put in place to protect plants from the snow.
On one of the main roads there has been construction. Here you can see tubes under the sidewalk which may be used for heating.
Some things about driving in the winter are also different from Chicago here. The city does not use road salt so many people will buy new winter tires regularly and pick their car with winter driving in mind.
Something that I thought was neat was a system for melting snow in a parking lot that sprayed hot water out of the ground. It was like an automatic sprinkler system for asphalt. I wasn't able to get a good picture of this however.
One additional major part of the winter preparation here has been to add new walls to the University of Aizu campus. Under walkways there have been plastic walls installed to create a snow barrier around the campus.
All of these preparations can be a little ominous, but I'm expecting that the snow will be pretty. And I like skiing...
