Carrick to Calgary

Just a quick update from The Folks in Tuscarora Way here. It's been a long, cold few weeks following Christmas, and we can't quite remember when the temperature was last anything close to zero (Boxing Day maybe?). January is apparently the coldest month here, and its second week is supposedly the worst, but normally it's -4 to -6, not the -15 to -25 we've been getting recently. Everything is covered in snow, the Jeep won't start cos it's too cold and the drive to work is 'BRUTAL' as the Canadians say. My normal 15 minute drive to the Foothills took nearly an hour today, while P spend over an hour in a cab with the taxi-driver from hell heading to a meeting in the North-East. It was in a rear wheel drive car with 5 bags of sand in the boot to provide extra traction and the driver had a fondness for going on the ice-covered hard shoulder to beat the traffic, making the car fishtail all over the place. I think she was glad she made it out in one piece! The radio news had lost count of the number of accidents, spin-outs and cars in the ditch by 8am, so it was a bad drive in to work. I had a good day at work though, operating on major cases all day and only getting home at 7:30.

But... it seems that in terms of the weather, "we ain't seen nothin' yet"! The temp as I write is -10 or so, but overnight a storm front will move in from B.C. which will drop us down to -30 or so, with fresh snow and high winds. With windchill, the predicted temperature is -45. Minus FORTY-FIVE! (Remember, exposed parts of you will freeze at -18 and below). This all amounts to a Severe Weather Warning, with the news saying that visibility will be poor and that driving will be hazardous for most of the morning. They've also issued a 'Hazardous Windchill Warning' which basically means 'stay indoors or risk freezing'! The local roads service has also been on the TV saying they're doing their best but that sand and salt don't work when it's that cold and that the roads may be beyond their control tomorrow. Right, then...

So we've taken an executive decision to get up a little later tomorrow, check the news and take a good look at the weather before we make a move. I'm not operating on anyone tomorrow, so I could spend the day at home at a push, and P has brought plenty of 'book-work' home with her just in case. So the hatches are battened down, and we're waiting for the storm to come. Maybe it'll go past us, but I don't think so...

More news from Blizzard Control in the morning...

J


Hopefully the snow won't be this deep...

PS Also noted the big announcements from Apple today at the San Francisco Macworld show. The fantastic Mac Mini, the latest and greatest iLife and the pure genius iPod Shuffle. An iPod for 99 dollars US (69 quid)! Wow! And Simon, you no longer have an excuse - just go and buy the Mac Mini (from 339 quid) and away you go!


iPod Shuffle: only 0.79 ounces, lighter than a car key, 240 songs on it


The Mac Mini - smaller than a breadbox!

Update:
11:45pm In the last half an hour we've dropped down to -15 and the snow has started up, with high winds shaking the house. The forecast from Environment Canada is as follows:

Text Forecast  from Environment Canada
Calgary: Issued 4.00 PM MST Tuesday 11 January 2005
Weather warning in effect.
Tonight .. Increasing cloudiness. Periods of light snow and blowing snow beginning overnight. Wind becoming west 20 km/h this evening then north 40 gusting to 60 overnight. Low minus 23. Wind chill minus 38 overnight.
Wednesday .. Periods of snow and blowing snow ending in the morning then clearing. Amount 2 cm. Wind north 40 km/h gusting to 60. Temperature falling to minus 28 in the evening. Extreme wind chill minus 43.
Thursday .. Sunny. Low minus 30. High minus 21.
Friday .. Sunny. Low minus 28. High minus 24.
Saturday .. Sunny. Low minus 29. High minus 13.

Normals for the period .. Low minus 16. High minus 4.

Strap yourself in ... we're in for a bumpy night!