Wednesday, September 22, 2004
First Chinook of the Season
This is turning into a bit of a Tuscarora Weather Blog (like the people up the street) but today it officially became 'Fall' (i.e. autumn) and we've had a bit of unexpectedly warm weather just in time for Mel and Stevie arriving tomorrow.
As you know, Monday morning saw the first snow, but it didn't lie and doesn't really count. I didn't even see it myself. The rest of Monday was COLD. We went to work in our fleeces and when we came home again we went for a walk up the Boulevard all hopped up in our new Columbia winter coats. It was 6 degrees when we came in again and the furnace was on most of the night to keep us toasty warm in the house.
Tuesday dawned with a good frost, minus 1 before the sun came up. Again, it was off to work in fleeces. But the local radio was predicting a 'guaranteed maximum high' for the day of 19 degrees! As the day went on the temperature rose steeply and indeed it hit 19 degrees in the afternoon. It was 13 degrees all evening, 13 degrees at bedtime and it was still 13 when we woke up at 05:30!! Thirteen degrees in the dark! One thing we noticed was that there was a steady wind from the west rattling the windows all night. We didn't know it at the time, but the windows were rattling because of our first Chinook.
Today (Wednesday) was too warm for fleeces and we were out again in shirt-sleeves. It's been about 12-15 all day, and is still a very nice 10 degrees at present.
Apparently all of this is due to the Chinook wind, which sweeps down off the Rockies and can warm the place up like nobody's business! It's complicated but the wind comes off the Pacific Ocean, over the Rockies and hits southern Alberta. They get more frequent as you go south, so down in Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (2 hours south of here) they get about 30 a year, while Calgary can expect 6-10 a year. We're told they're great for warming you up and breaking the long dreary spells of extreme cold weather in the winter. My clarinet teacher says that last winter was 'Brutal!' as on many days it was -65, counting the wind-chill! Ouch! As you go further north the Chinooks die out, which is why they call the Frozen North the Frozen North, I suppose. If you want more info on Chinook weather, check out here and here
Oh, and P saw the typical Chinook arch today, which is the weird cloud formation you get over the Rockies when the Chinook is blowing but she didn't have her camera to hand, so we've found a couple of pictures to give you the idea:
Chinook arch
Another arch
Anyway, off to bed now as I'm operating all day tomorrow and P is going to the airport to collect our 2 special visitors. Mel and Stevie, welcome to Canada!
As you know, Monday morning saw the first snow, but it didn't lie and doesn't really count. I didn't even see it myself. The rest of Monday was COLD. We went to work in our fleeces and when we came home again we went for a walk up the Boulevard all hopped up in our new Columbia winter coats. It was 6 degrees when we came in again and the furnace was on most of the night to keep us toasty warm in the house.
Tuesday dawned with a good frost, minus 1 before the sun came up. Again, it was off to work in fleeces. But the local radio was predicting a 'guaranteed maximum high' for the day of 19 degrees! As the day went on the temperature rose steeply and indeed it hit 19 degrees in the afternoon. It was 13 degrees all evening, 13 degrees at bedtime and it was still 13 when we woke up at 05:30!! Thirteen degrees in the dark! One thing we noticed was that there was a steady wind from the west rattling the windows all night. We didn't know it at the time, but the windows were rattling because of our first Chinook.
Today (Wednesday) was too warm for fleeces and we were out again in shirt-sleeves. It's been about 12-15 all day, and is still a very nice 10 degrees at present.
Apparently all of this is due to the Chinook wind, which sweeps down off the Rockies and can warm the place up like nobody's business! It's complicated but the wind comes off the Pacific Ocean, over the Rockies and hits southern Alberta. They get more frequent as you go south, so down in Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (2 hours south of here) they get about 30 a year, while Calgary can expect 6-10 a year. We're told they're great for warming you up and breaking the long dreary spells of extreme cold weather in the winter. My clarinet teacher says that last winter was 'Brutal!' as on many days it was -65, counting the wind-chill! Ouch! As you go further north the Chinooks die out, which is why they call the Frozen North the Frozen North, I suppose. If you want more info on Chinook weather, check out here and here
Oh, and P saw the typical Chinook arch today, which is the weird cloud formation you get over the Rockies when the Chinook is blowing but she didn't have her camera to hand, so we've found a couple of pictures to give you the idea:
Chinook arch
Another arch
Anyway, off to bed now as I'm operating all day tomorrow and P is going to the airport to collect our 2 special visitors. Mel and Stevie, welcome to Canada!
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