28 Feb [Infographic] Winter in Winnipeg 2018
Winter in Winnipeg is no joke.
You don’t earn the nickname, Winterpeg, for nothing after all.
Around this time of year, it’s not uncommon to hear friends and family complain about the winter taking a toll both physically and mentally.
To combat these winter blahs, many cities and their residents work hard to create a positive winter culture. Insightrix wanted to know how the City of Winnipeg and its residents created a winter culture all their own – like how do they spend their time outdoors during the winter, how cold is just too darned cold and what else could be done to promote a positive winter culture in Winnipeg.
We surveyed 360 residents of Winnipeg between February 12 and 15 using ManitobaWatch® – the Insightrix online research panel in Manitoba. ManitobaWatch sample quotas are set by age, gender and region to match the general population of the province, and since the research is conducted online, it is considered to be a non-probability proportion sample. Therefore, margins of error are not applicable.
This is what we learned…
Winnipeggers don’t mind the cold
It takes a little more than cold weather to keep Winnipeggers indoors.
When we asked Winnipeggers how cold is too cold, 64% said that between -15°C to -30°C is too cold for them. More than one fifth (21%) are tougher, saying -31°C to -40°C is too cold, and 3% say anything colder than -46°C is just too cold. Period.
Others were less tough, with 4% saying -6°C to -15°C is too cold and another 1% saying 5°C to 1°C is too cold.
It might be safe to say this last 1% of the Winnipeg population may be living in the wrong place.
Winter culture abides in Winnipeg
The people of Winnipeg think winter culture is alive and well in their city.
When we asked Winnipeggers whether they thought the City and its residents have done enough to create and support a positive winter culture in the city, more than two thirds (69%) agree.
Conversely, less than one third (31%) disagree, and wish more were done to create and support a positive winter culture in the city.
Some changes suggested
Winnipeggers made several suggestions for ways the people and the City could create and support a positive winter culture.
The most common answer we received was that better snow clearing should be provided (63%), followed by building more heated bus shelters (58%) and creating walkable spaces for pedestrians that are shielded from the wind.
The people of Winnipeg also suggested building more warm-up shelters around the city (49%), making improvements to the transit system (48%), providing more lighting in key areas (45%), holding more public events/festivals and building more public parking (39%).* Other common answers are noted in the infographic below.
*Note that percentages total to more than 100% as participants were able to make multiple selections.
Have questions YOU would like to ask?
Do you have a question you would like to ask Manitoba residents? Try our omnibus service – OnTopic™– to learn more about what Manitobans think about any issue that matters to you.
You can also check out the ManitobaWatch blog, to read all the latest ManitobaWatch news.