How do the migrants fare the Winter?

They don't fare very well. A torrential rainstorm strikes the land. In this "big picture" chapter, we hear the migrant people wondering, "How long's it likely to go on?"-the same question they have been asking about the "storm" of the Great Depression itself. As Steinbeck describes it, the storm is terrifying enough in the physical destruction it causes; yet "the greatest terror of all" is the grim realization that "[t]hey ain't gonna be no kinda work for three months." Lack of work leads to lack of food, and lack of food leads to illness. And still, the rain continues to fall. As it falls, the migrant people beg, then, when rebuffed, begin to steal. Consequently, law enforcement prepares for a seemingly inevitable confrontation; and "the comfortable people . . . felt pity at first and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people." You can check out this excerpt in the source link below.