Late Afternoon Update – (via radio) Police and emergency services are asking people not to use cell phones in the area unless necessary, as the system is being overloaded, and causing them problems. There are still a lot of drivers stranded on the roads, in and out of Saskatoon. Reports of 20 – 30 vehicles on the highway outside Rosetown, for example.
More U of Sask webcams.
Noon Update - Current Sask highway conditions;
Saskatoon highways are temporarily CLOSED due to zero visibility, blowing and drifting snow North Battleford Area highways are temporarily CLOSED due to zero visibility, blowing and drifting snow. TRAVEL NOT RECOMMENDED In Unity, Kerrobert, and Rosetown areas. #3 Highway East and West of Melfort is CLOSED due to Zero Visibility, Loose Snow, Snow Drifts, Swirling Snow, Drifting Snow, TRAVEL NOT RECCOMENDED throughout the Prince Albert Area Meadow Lake Area Highways are temporarily CLOSED due to zero visibility, blowing and drifting snow.There are also several streets in the Saskatoon closed or blocked by drifting, and motorists around the province reported stranded - including a Greyhound bus full of passengers bound for Edmonton that was forced to spend the night a few km outside North Battleford. More at the link. 2 PM (local time) UPDATE - believe it or not, this thing is getting worse. Saskatoon schools are not allowing children to walk home on their own, and are calling parents to get them. That may be difficult as there are multi-car pileups in various locations around the city. Winds at the moment are a sustained 70km/h. These are photos I took minutes ago on my street, looking west and east. (Click for larger version)
Links to video and photos from listeners at CKOM radio. (link fixed)
Update - two deaths reported at the Onion Lake reserve, when two people left their vehicle after getting stuck on a grid road.
More, to the west of us (where things look postively sunny by comparison) Darcey asks you "take a little time out of your day to thank John Baird. He’s been Environmental Minister for just a short little time now but look at the difference"
Can someone explain please..blizzards on the prairies are news how?They are a fact of life in Man…had a dandy over New Years.and I’m pretty sure I remember a few prior in my 50+ yrs!I remember when a kid,snowbanks up to bottom of kitchen window,schools closed etc.Oh yeah,and we walked 5 miles to school every day,and it was uphill both ways!We are “Prairieites”,we know blizzards,and as previous poster mentioned,a blizzard party is a fine idea!Used to own a bar in SW Man.and every blizzard it was busier in bar,than on normal nite!All the farmwers,the kids,had to test the 4×4’s..we had a farmer that used to drive his tractor with plow on front,to vendor door! Ahh,the good old days..and you could still smoke in the bars then too.Think I’ll have a beer/smoke now,and a toast to all you stormstayed folk!
kmn: Let me start by saying that I think Kyoto is so much lefty flim-flam. But your inference that carbon dioxide is either found as a component of oil or as a greenhouse gas is wrong. There are inestimable tonnages of carbonate rocks which have erupted, eroded, metamorphized, and become part of petroleum, coral, and the atmosphere through life processes and other natural phenomena. While it might be possible to remove measureable amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere by encouraging the growth of plant life, it would be more permanent to encourage the growth of coral reefs, which over a few million years will form massive deposits of calcium carbonate. Of course, the loss of calcium will lead to osteoporosis. As global cooling gains strength, we will need stronger bones to avoid crippling falls on the inevitable icy patches that will develop. It looks like we’re in trouble no matter what happens.
Our forcast for the next little while calls for wind chills in the minus 40’s, I call for any climate change alarmists to stick their backside outdoors then and see how warm their globals get!!!!!!
Careful kakola, sarcasm detectors are missing for a lot of people. You might see the UN trying to ban calcium carbonate. Now what are we going to cover our walls in our homes with?
I still can’t figure out how Jema54 got into her fathers shirtsleeves! lol
“I was born in his shirtsleeves” Jema54 3:42pm
I really have to stop watching the Marx brothers.
BTW: Shouldn’t it be Jema55 now?
Gee, Kate. Good thing you had to deliver those puppies a few days ago. ‘Couldn’t happen now!
The thing about “climate change” (which was first, a new ice age, then global warming) is that it happens every second of every minute of every day of every week, etc., etc. Nothing new here…
Darcey’s got a post up called “Join the Freak Club,” quoting Rick Smith, the executive director of Environmental Defence: “Decisive, quick action on climate change is absolutely critical. Canadians are freaking out at this weird weather we’re having.”
‘Seems everybody’s freaking out everywhere.
My thoughts about this hysteria is that it’s a great way to derail a government–-or any institution-–you don’t like. Simply create panic in the streets. The end is near! Let’s all run for shelter! (Funny, the MSM wasn’t exactly making a big huge deal about climate change while the Liberals ignored Kyoto and sat on their hands, environmentally speaking, for 13 years.)
In a society where eveyone wants what they want when they want it, notwithstanding “climate” which “happens,” the chicken littles want security, at any cost, as they hole up in their sad little minds and cosy-corners. And the CPC had better snap to it: YESTERDAY, or else!
Sukookie and his drones have made a good living off imagined, or at least ratcheted-up, disaster. And what I find particularly offensive, is that the fuel he consumes every year, jet setting first-class to conferences and lucrative speaking engagements, where he’s hailed as an environmental prophet and hero, is probably 100 times more than what my family and I use. ‘Not to mention the electricity and heat it takes to service his mega-house, compared to most Canadians’ modest dwellings.
We, the little guys, get blamed for being wasteful and the CPC are on the carpet for all of the environmental infractions the Liberals either committed or did nothing about in the past 13 years, and the CBC does an “enemy interrogation” of Environment Minister John Baird (via Carol MacNeil on CBC Sunday on January 7), while Stephane Dion and the Libs get off Scott-free.
All the while, Sukooki and his hangers-on, including the Hollywood/CBC “greenies,” preach at us about “our” wastefulness and how “we” have to scale back. What a bunch of whiners, poseurs, phonies, and charlatans.
Who says Snake Oil’s no longer on the market?
I’m not sure where to post this – Little Mosque on the Prairie (the CBC hates Alberta/Saskatchewan) or this global warming thread. It’s a bit OT for both, but did any of you see Ezra Levant’s column in the Calgary Sun a couple of days ago?
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Levant_Ezra/2007/01/08/3234940.html
The CBC is supposed to be balanced (does anyone believe that?), but it looks as if they are actually contributing to Y2Kyoto vandalism in Calgary.
On topic, it looks as if the blizzard missed Edmonton. We had high winds from the east yesterday afternoon and this morning, but not very much snow. I grew up in southern Manitoba in the ’50s and the blizzard currently hitting Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta is very reminiscent of some of the major storms that hit us back then. The weather is the same as ever. It changes every year.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
It doesn’t show signs of stopping,
And I brought some corn for popping;
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
When we finally say good night,
How I’ll hate going out in the storm;
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I’ll be warm.
The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we’re still good-bye-ing,
But as long as you love me so.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
— Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne, 1945
crabgrass says” “In any event, do you think that Stephen Harper now believes that climate change is real”
Nice dishonest loaded question. Does your wife still beat you?
You left wingers have been lying about Harper’s position on climate change for years. Harper never disputed climate change, and never said humans didn’t cause it.
“…and that humans are largely responsible for it”
You are lying again. Based on the best available science It’s illogical to conclude with confidence that humans are “largely” (important word) responsible for it. Anyway, Harper *never* said that humans don’t cause global warming, liar. And that’s taking into consideration that 5 years ago the science wasn’t conclusive one way or the other so you can’t hold that against him.
“and must now take some painful steps to address it?”
Says you. Adapt.
If you follow your logic to it’s conclusion you are advocating the wholesale slaughter of 90% of the human race. Surely if the survival of the planet is at stake it is selfish of you to live and breathe, GHG Boy! If global warming is caused by humans than we need fewer humans, not to dick around with hybrid cars. You go first.
I say we adapt to climate change, and eliminate immigration and state funded childcare, which are the main causes of GHG emission *increases* in Canada.
I miss global warming already!
Watching the local tv news, apparently a couple hundred travellers and employees are stormstayed at a Costco store on the north end of Saskatoon, along with a CTV news reporter.
Saddam FYI
They still grow grapes in England.
Hate this blizzard, got stuck going in to my underground parking and had visions of the door bouncing up and down off the hood of my car. Live on 19th floor of high rise in Saskatoon and the view of this event has been eerily pretty. Normally have a great view of the river and the Bess, but nothing visible today.
Winter in the East to turn on a dime and hit with a vengeance,
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=26025
I am one small-c conservative who is relieved that the Conservative government seems to be taking global warming more seriously of late. I believe that the science overwhelmingly points to elevated atmospheric CO2 levels as a major cause of global warming, which I don’t define as a few days of unseasonably mild weather, but warming trends measured over periods of years/decades. Of course there have always been fluctuations, but fluctuations over hundreds/thousands of years allow ecosystems time to adapt, whereas extreme fluctuations within the course of years/decades have the potential to make life for my as yet unborn grandchildren pretty miserable. The boreal forests that now provide employment for thousands of Canadians may take 100 years to grow to merchantable size, so that doesn’t leave a lot of room for natural selection to respond to environmental changes. I personally don’t want to see the region north of Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan become an arid prairie ecosystem, but I believe that if action isn’t taken on greenhouse gases that is a possibility. Some commenters on SDA have light-heartedly stated that they can’t wait for climate change. However I don’t think the wheat and canola farmers at Birch Hills will be growing oranges under a climate change scenario, their climate is more likely to be like Maple Creek than Palm Springs.
Check out the news stories about how the Mountain Pine Beetle has crossed the Rockies and is munching its way through Alberta’s lodgepole pine forests. A couple of weeks of -40C weather while the larva are over-wintering can knock back a pine beetle epidemic, but the last few winters have not been cold enough for that.
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/HFP/mountain_pine_beetle/facts.htm
Warm winter weather is nice for the city folks and skiers, not so nice for the forest industry workers who depend on pine forests for their livelihood.
I also am concerned about the possibility of larger and more frequent forest fires
http://www.pfc.forestry.ca/news/InfoForestry/April2001/iffire_e.html
The pseudo-science of the likes of David Suzuki and the ecoterrorists at Earth First, etc. has rightly been critically examined by conservatives in the past on issues such as whether logging should be allowed in the boreal forests. Sure there are climate change alarmists with some pretty questionable scenarios, but I’d like to see conservatives be just as critical of junk science on the naysayer side of the climate change debate as they are of the junk science on the alarmist side.
Profane Saint,
I suggest you look up science and junk science and how you can tell the difference between them. Hint: Science is the one you don’t get to vote on.
Unlike Profane Saint, I am very disappointed in PMSH of late. The evidence for anthropogenic global warming is highly questionable and the proposed solutions have a very good chance of destroying the Canadian economy. While there are those who might find the idea of a low tech existence appealing, I’m not one of them. The environmentalists have to a large part caused the problem through their hysterical rejection of nuclear power in the early 1980’s. There was a book entitled “The Health Hazards of not going Nuclear” written over 20 years ago, and I believe global warming was one of the items mentioned.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that climate change of an order of magnitude greater than what we’ve experienced in the last 50 years is occurring. To deal with it is going to be expensive and will take vast amounts of money and energy. We’re not going to be able to do it with low density energy sources such as solar power. Also, an economy based on people selling each other hand woven baskets and clothes can’t provide the necessary capital to fund the technologic efforts required. The only way to deal with the problem is to continue with business as usual and continued economic growth will provide the capital needed (Bjorn Lomberg suggests this as the optimal solution in his book “The Skeptical Environmentalist”).
Fossil fuels should be viewed as a bridge to either a hydrogen economy or some form of high density electicity storage in room temperature superconductors. For a while I thought that PMSH would stand up against the doomsday cultists, but it appears he has succumbed.
The pine beetle epidemic is a natural phenomenon and is cyclic. Apparently most of the interior of BC consisted of dead trees over 100 years ago which was probably the last time the pine beetle came through. A look at human history shows that natural catastrophes are the norm and people either deal with them or they die off.
What amazes me now is the widespread defeatist attitude that seems so fashionable. In the 1950’s and 1960’s there was immense technologic optimism and nuclear power plants promised inexhaustible energy, the space program was proceeding at a rate that made the predictions in the movie 2001 seem very reasonable and then something happened to put the brakes on this period of technologic progress.
The solution to our problems is to get back to this degree of technologic innovation and large scale thinking. Technology is the only way out of our problems, and it’s going to be on a big scale. What distinguishes a primitive society from an advanced society is the energy produced/capita. A subsistance farmer who relies on human power and burns cow dung is much more likely to die in a heat wave than someone who lives in N. America and has air conditioning available at the flick of a switch. With even more power/capita, desalination of seawater on a large scale becomes possible as well as moving water around in quantities needed for agriculture. If the environmentalists have their way, we’ll be much more likely to be in the position of the dung-burning subsistance farmer in the future.
ural,
I would disagree with your statement about not getting to vote on science.
A definition of junk science that I agree with is “a pejorative term used in political and legal disputes … to describe scientific data, research, analyses or claims which are alleged to be driven by political, religious, financial or other questionable motives.”
I don’t want to only rely on research funded by either environmental groups or industry, because I would question their impartiality. A lot of it I would consider “junk” science. I realize that some research done by federal research agencies like Natural Resources Canada, the National Research Council, etc. and by universities is sometimes politically motivated, but I believe that those researchers are generally non-partisan, and they are more likely to produce “sound” science.
I see scientific research as an important investment in the future of Canada’s economy and environment. When I cast my vote in the next federal election, one of the factors I’ll be looking at is whether the party is committed to adequately funding R&D.
Phil L,
Sorry I wasn’t to clear on what I meant. By the “you” I didn’t mean you.
For example: If there were 200 scientists voting on whether they think the CO2 levels are causing global Warming – it doesn’t matter if the answer is yes or no … if it used in a political or legal manner it is junk science. Scientific fact doesn’t get established by law or democratic vote … it should (and mostly is) held to higher standards – proof.
I don’t know what adequately R&D funding is. I do know that I don’t want all the money going into trying to prove man is responsible for global warming.
‘been around the block?
All the while, Sukooki and his hangers-on, including the Hollywood/CBC “greenies,” preach at us about “our” wastefulness and how “we” have to scale back. What a bunch of whiners, poseurs, phonies, and charlatans.
Well said, and so true.
Hope my Canadian neighbors are snug and safe.
I read somewhere that due to the warm weather this winter, world oil consumption is down markedly.
It therefore seems that the best way to combat global warming and conserve non-renewable resources would be to raise the earths temperature slightly.
“I realize that some research done by federal research agencies like Natural Resources Canada, the National Research Council, etc. and by universities is sometimes politically motivated,…”
The biggest contributing source to research on this subject has been scientists employed by the federal government of the USA. And it’s no secret that the executive branch is cheesed off about those results. The idea that these scientists are serving the wishes of their political masters is ridiculous, they’re rocking the boat.
4th death blamed on winter storm
By JENNIFER GRAHAM
REGINA (CP) – A fourth death is being blamed on a winter storm that blasted through Western Canada, prompting a warning from RCMP that drivers should prepare for extreme conditions. (cnews)