Category Archives: Weather

Winter is holding on

Weather, , , ,

It was -14°C this morning on the way to work with a -21°C wind chill!  It was snowing, and the roads are snow covered and icy.  Jeff had to plow the driveway yesterday!

The Pictou Causeway was closed for awhile today due to poor visibility. Even though the sun was gorgeous today, was really windy and drifty and cold!

Two more snow “storms” are predicted for this week. I’m travelling to a conference for a couple of days so hopefully my plans aren’t disrupted.

The Great Flu of 2013 is also hanging on.  It is settled deep in our chests and we cough and hack.  Jeff is finally sleeping through the night again without too much coughing.  I just gave us both a dose of cough syrup (Jeff went with Robitussin, I prefer Buckley’s) because we’re both coughing so much.  I still feel like my brain is going to come through my forehead when I cough.

Bad news – we ran out of seasoned firewood!  I guess we need to make a better effort to have wood delivered in spring so we can have it stacked and drying.  We have plenty of wood stacked, but the moisture content is still about 26%.   Jeff officially declared the wood stove done for the season and we’ve turned some of the electric baseboards on. This has an interesting side effect of being able to sleep in in the morning, and not spent “quality time” sitting in the basement after work and before bed re-stoking the fire.  I guess this is how “normal” people with central heating must live ;-)

This also means, though, that my plants under the light hood in the basement have to come upstairs because there is no heat down there now and it is COLD.  I’m moving my herbs (just have parsley, tyme, basil, and rosemary growing right now) up to the guest room upstairs on the front of the house where the sun is really strong in the afternoon.  My pot of baby lettuce mixture didn’t do well at all so it might be a lost cause.  It just wasn’t warm enough for lettuce downstairs this winter.

Wonder how long until the herbs can go back outside!?!

I think it’s close enough now to officially call a delay in the start of our boating season. It is going to be -9 tonight and tomorrow night. The lake is frozen solid and it is already the 18th of March.  I don’t see a thaw coming before the fishing season opens on our lake on April 1st, but it’ll have to thaw eventually!

 

 

 

Apocalyptic blizzard of 2013

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I woke up at 5:30am and sprung out of bed to check on the blizzard!

We got several inches of snow since we went to sleep last night and it has blown around nicely. Like a snowstorm of my youth.

There are some wind gusts, but nothing of much significance yet. This storm is supposed to carry into tomorrow. YEE HA

I was watching CNN for hours last night. It was even MORE amusing that hurricane reporting! It was apocalyptic! The WORLD was ending for tens of millions of people because it was SNOWING! Reporters on the beach, reporters on the street, reporters driving around in snow. One reporter stood beside a stuck pickup truck and walked around him, reporting on the truck spinning its tires. Not one effort to help the poor guy out.

For HOURS CNN reported on only TWO stories. The snow and the manhunt for the ex-cop in California. Nothing else was covered. How is CNN a news channel?

Almost everything is closed in our province today. Yesterday the groceries stores were as busy as the day before Christmas. Everyone wants storm food.

The power is already out to many people (6697 customers out) down near Yarmouth where the storm first hit. I would prefer if we don’t lose power, but I’m ready!

If we have power, I’ll keep updating this post throughout the day.

6am - Blizzard 2013

6am – Blizzard 2013

6:09am – Plow went by!

7:04am – Getting lighter outside, sun is rising. I’ve got the fire made in the woodstove and put the dishwasher on early in case we lose power. Not too windy yet. Blowing snow, reduced visibility. First birds of the day showing up at the feeders. -8°C

blizzard2013b

7:04 am

7:32am – The list of What’s Closed or Cancelled Today includes: Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Aulds Cove Tim Hortons, most pharmacies, the dumps, the libraries, mall opening at noon (maybe), the rec centres, and bingo is cancelled all over for today. Maritime Buses aren’t running either. The Nova Scotia Jeep Club has been called in in Halifax to drive people to and from the hospital if needed.

8:06am – Lots of birds here now, red polls, evening grosbeaks, chickadees, and juncos. Nothing much else going on. Jeff still in bed. I’m getting sleepy. The odd wind gust, but nothing major. One car just went by.

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8:05am

9:44am – Went back to bed for a nap. We’re both up now. I just shovelled a shovel-width path on the porch. It’s over a foot of power snow, but not light powder, just not packing snow. Jeff is thinking about plowing to keep it under control. The ATV can only do so much. I might have to clean off the window my webcam is in before you can’t see anything! 5027 customers without power in the province. -4.5°C

blizzard2013d

9:47am

10:48am - Jeff is still plowing. I cleaned the vehicles and moved them around so he could plow. Jeff saw a big white bunny in the ditch when he was plowing – scared him away. We haven’t spotted a rabbit in months!

Just saw on Twitter that the historic waterfront in Shelburne, NS is under water. Photo here and Another One and One more. Waist deep water in some places, water over roads. Here is flooding in Liverpool More businesses closed around here, liquor stores, Sears, grocery stores, car dealerships, pizza restaurants.

Here’s a photo gallery of flooding photos from Shelbourne County.

11:20am – Jeff’s still plowing. 7990 customers without power. Snowing just lightly here now and the winds aren’t too bad. Road seems plowed, but I don’t think we’ve seen half a dozen vehicles today go by. Storm surge that hit the south shore of the province was 1-2 metres. It is receding now. Wait, there goes the snowplow again right now. They weren’t keeping up this much on Monday. Must be overtime on Saturday :-) Transport truck off the road near Antigonish – photo. Here’s a photo from Lockeport, NS where the water is up to cars in their driveways.

12:07pm – 21,701 customers suddenly without power. Still on the western side of the province. Heading this way.

1:08pm – Just saw on Twitter that the storm surge in Shelbourne, NS was the biggest they’ve seen in that area since a Groundhog Day storm in 1976. Nothing of significance to report here. Power restored for some. Down to 13, 241 customers without.

2:23pm – Is this storm a bust? Very light snow, almost rain, no wind. CBC is reporting 17cm of snow at Yarmouth airport, 44 at Greenwood airport, 21cm at Halifax airport and 5cm at the Sydney airport so far. Hard to believe everything is closed when the road is plowed and it hasn’t really snowed since early this morning here.

2:54pm – Freezing rain. Light. Yet the car and truck windows are covered in ice. Red squirrel just showed up under at the bird feeder.

9:03pm – FINALLY the freezing rain has turned back to snow! It will take awhile to chisel the windows free from ice tomorrow. Not too much wind.

8:54 am Sunday – The wind picked up around 10pm and it not let up! I wouldn’t want to be driving anywhere today! Still snowing. Blizzard warning still in effect.

blizzard2013e

9:05am Sunday

3:41pm Sunday – Still snowing and blowing. Jeff wants to plow, but there is still so much snow coming down. At some point I’ll have to go chisel out the car and truck because there is a lot of ice build up from on the freezing rain under the snow. Blizzard warning has been replaced with a blowing snow warning. I wouldn’t want to drive anywhere today, everything is a white out.

5:38pm Sunday – Funny there is no blizzard warning anymore, it is closest to a blizzard this afternoon than it has been since Friday. We just spent a couple hours plowing, shovelling, thawing and moving the cars.

8:39pm Sunday – Storm is over! More photos coming in a new post soon.

Life is full of firsts

Weather,

Even at 37 years old now, life is still full of firsts.

For instance, this is the first time I have ever seen this:

fulloffirsts

Both a Rainfall Warning and a Blizzard Warning!

Warnings

Antigonish County
4:57 AM AST Sunday 03 February 2013
Rainfall warning for
Antigonish County issued

20 to 40 millimetres of rain expected tonight and Monday morning.

This is a warning that significant rainfall is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..listen for updated statements.

A low pressure system will develop southwest of Nova Scotia today and will intensify rapidly tonight. It will still continue to intensify Monday as it moves over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Snow at times heavy will develop this afternoon and evening through central eastern and northern sections of Nova Scotia. Over Eastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton the snow will change to rain at times heavy this evening mixed at times with freezing rain. The rain will change back to snow during the day Monday as very strong northwesterlies develop and bring back colder temperatures. Blizzard conditions can be expected Monday afternoon and evening in Antigonish County and the Cape Breton Highlands.

Antigonish County
4:57 AM AST Sunday 03 February 2013
Blizzard warning for
Antigonish County issued

Blizzard conditions expected Monday afternoon and evening with snow blowing snow and winds gusting to 100 km/h.

This is a warning that blizzard conditions with near-zero visibilities are expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..listen for updated statements.

A low pressure system will develop southwest of Nova Scotia today and will intensify rapidly tonight. It will still continue to intensify Monday as it moves over the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Snow at times heavy will develop this afternoon and evening through central eastern and northern sections of Nova Scotia. Over Eastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton the snow will change to rain at times heavy this evening mixed at times with freezing rain. The rain will change back to snow during the day Monday as very strong northwesterlies develop and bring back colder temperatures. Blizzard conditions can be expected Monday afternoon and evening in Antigonish County and the Cape Breton Highlands.

Stay tuned…

Love the cold!

Weather,

LOVE the cold weather. Makes me feel ALIVE!

As I head off to bed, I just noticed it is the same temperature inside and outside, except outside has a minus.

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Wind chill warning of -35 for tonight. These temps aren’t even that cold compared to northwestern Ontario or Siberia! But it is cold for here so I’ll take it!

Fascinated by the potential historic storm forming

Weather,

The best part of my day today was watching meteorologists twitter about each weather model as they were released, looking at the potential for a historic storm to hit the eastern coast of the USA.

Newly formed Tropical Storm Sandy could play a role in this historic event. Although the chances are being dismissed as just too unprobable, because it has never happened before, they are discussing the odd chance of a hurricane hitting the coast, bringing tremendous coastal flooding (because of the full moon and higher than normal tides), possibilities of devastating inches of rain, with snow inland!

Not just any old storm. THE STORM OF A CENTURY!

COULD THIS EVER HAPPEN? OH MY GOODNESS!?!?!

….or Sandy could just swing out to sea.

The last time a hurricane formed where Tropical Depression Sandy is located, it was 1878 and more than 71 people were killed on the eastern seaboard of the US (the Gale of ’78).

Read what the meteorologists are saying.

If you are a Twitter-ite, follow #Sandy

It is still 7 days out so it could turn out to be absolutely nothing.

OR IT COULD BE THE END OF TIMES… or something like that.

Regardless of where it goes next, it is going to rain hard in Jamaica and Cuba.

Milder, stormier winter predicted for us

Weather, , ,

Meteorologist Brett Anderson at Accuweather has predicted a milder winter for Atlantic Canada, with more storms.

“For Saint John’s and Halifax, we do expect a fairly stormy winter, especially from January through February, a number of coastal storms, I believe, will be coming up in those areas,” AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said. “But with at least milder-than-normal temperatures this winter, we could see an equal amount of snow and rainstorms coming into both of these cities.”

Check out the winter forecast for your area:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/canada-winter-2012-2013-forecast/266862

Hurricane Leslie – Decided to pass us by

Weather, ,

Hurricane Leslie will be passing us by over the next 36 hours.

We have a heavy rain fall warning and are supposed to get >100mm by tomorrow morning with flash flooding possibilities.

I am supposed to stay in town until dark to attend a union meeting, but I am not keen driving home in the dark in flash flood conditions, so I may be a no-show.

Last week when we had the heavy rain fall warning it filled the wheel barrow 3/4 full with rain!  It has been so dry here this summer, that it really didn’t have a big impact. And the whole province is so close to the ocean, the water quickly runs off to the ocean.

It is forecast to only reach a high of 16 today, but it feels really humid to me.  It’s pretty windy, but nothing hurricane or tropical storm like. Environment Canada is forecasting wind of only 60 km/hr here.

Good luck with Leslie Newfoundland!

Quick Updates including our first possible HURRICANE of 2012

Weather,

Quick updates for YOU my beautiful blog reader:

  • Tropical Storm Leslie is the next thriller to watch.  It has great potential for growth and with the warm water, it will likely hold its strength.  It could hit Nova Scotia or Newfoundland on Monday/Tuesday next week.  I’m trying not to get too excited too early.  (yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ) It will probably be Saturday before we know for sure where this storm is going.  It’s been travelling sooo slow – like 5 miles per hour!
  • Those delicious red delicious apples at the corner store (that isn’t on a corner) are actually CHEAPER than the red delicious in the grocery store by about 15 cents.
  • Sitting on the front deck is so great! Stairs are in process
  • The sun sets so noticeably early this week, and takes its sweet ass time coming up in the morning.  The sun is long gone over the other side of the valley and it is only 7:45pm.
  • It’s been 3 months now since my myomectomy surgery.  I’m still not totally back to normal. I still need some naps, and physical activity tires me out fast – especially house cleaning/scrubbing [company is coming next week, gotta clean!] But overall I’m doing great!
  • ALSO! We have a heavy rain fall warning – Up to 75mm of rain coming tomorrow! (Is this the remnants of Hurricane Isaac?)

Wet night!

Weather, , ,

We finally got rain – and it was a lot of rain!

It poured all night.  And I know because I was up almost all night.

We had thunder and lightning from about 10:30pm until sometime in the wee hours.  Monty was squirrely from it, so we got up so Jeff could sleep. I sat at my computer watching a live stream from a guy on the street in Anaheim while the police shot the citizens with pepper balls and bean bags until 3:30am.

I slept on the couch so I could keep Monty calm on the floor beside me.

I was up twice after that, and then up for good at 6am.  I took Monty out (still raining a bit) and I noticed Monty’s fence was on a serious lean.

Turns out we have some sink holes!  Around each of the sonatubes in the front, and around the basement walk out – so the 2 areas he dug out.

(click on a thumbnail for the larger image, and then you can scroll through the 4 images).

Luckily there is no sink hole in the driveway from the trench, probably because he was able to drive on the trench afterwards and pack it down, but it is really soft! It felt like quick sand as I tried to quickly step over it.

The driveway looks FANTASTIC! completely unscathed! At least from the view up here!

I thought Monty was only squirrely like that when the power was flicking, but the power was steady.  He seemed to freak out with the lightning, thunder, and the hammering rain.  Maybe it is because we so rarely have a thunderstorm in Nova Scotia.  Because they are so rare, I’ve noticed people here tend to be terrified of them.