Banff’s Mount Norquay Ski Resort is preparing to open the mountain on Saturday (Oct.24), the earliest date in its 95th year of operation.
Norquay will be the first ski hill to open in the country this season, and is typically one of the first resorts to open for the ski season.
“We’ve received over 30 centimetres of snow with great overnight temperatures that allowed us to make a lot of snow,” said general manager Andre Quenneville.
“We have also made some improvements to our snowmaking system since last winter, which has increased our efficiency. Having overnight temperatures hovering around -9, -10 is what has really allowed us to open up so early.”
Related: Numerous records were broken, including in Val Marie, where the mercury dropped to -27 C, breaking the record of -14 C set back in 2002, and making the community the Canadian cold spot for most of the morning Friday.
Maunder Minimum here we come.
You’ll need fuel for heat but it’s going to depend on your social score for your fuel ration.
Has anybody sued Al Gore for false advertising yet?
Where is Al Gore is the big question. He’s one of the biggest blobs of crap in history.
Good thing we haven’t fully weaned ourselves from non-renewable energy sources yet. Though I’m sure that freezing to death would be found to be COVID19, and a reason for further lockdowns.
We’re gonna need some of that CO2 to keep us warm! I say the pols have it backwards. It isn’t glo-bull warming that we should be afraid of… it’s the exact opposite!
btw… my thermo-meter hit 24C… that’s PLUS 24C today, but as I am typing this, the cold front is passing through, and the temperature is starting to plummet.
Farmer’s almanac predicting a very cold an snowy winter despite what Environment Canada says. Ooooh, I’m so looking forward to that 6-month-plus of sub-zero weather. (yes, that was sarcasm!)
It snowed on and off all day here in SW Calgary today, at least 8″ so far. More to shovel in the a.m.
It’s a pretty Winter Wonderland out there! A rabbit left his tracks. The bird feeder is filled with seeds.
And, The ‘Flag’ is still there!
The bird feeder is filled with seeds.
I’m going up to my house in B. C. early this coming week. It looks like I’ll have to fill my feeders now. It’s a good thing I stocked up on birdseed as I know the critters are going to stuff themselves.
I’ve also got some mountain ashes in my back yard. I know that some of my feathered friends like the berries as I would find them all over the windshield and hood of my truck when I parked it in the back alley. I don’t know who eats them, but I know that here in Edmonton, waxwings will gorge themselves.
Waxwings are rare in our yard, now. We have a big Saskatoon and a Honeysuckle in our yard, that has hosted Waxwings in the past. Plus a couple of Nanking Cherries. The Coopers Hawk has not been seen since highway construction near us started, two years ago. Our “regulars”, Chickadees, Finches and Nuthatches make daily runs at the feeder. Sparrows have been reduced to just watching from the side lines. They don’t like my “anti-English Sparrow” rigging. Pests. The native Sparrows have long since fled the scene. Snow, or the threat of snow will do that. We’ve built up above 10 inches this week. Looks like January, or aka “Snowtober” as the local TV weather gal calls it. Rabbit tracks out there, soon to be Coyote ones. “Country” in the City.
I am in a rural area near a large lake in Manitoba. Last night we saw flocks and flocks of geese in formation hearing south. That would be the last of the big northerns and the snow geese who summer in the arctic. Geese, unlike other birds who fly in little hops each day while migrating, will go nonstop for two or three days to reach their next stop. Geese flying at night and heading south means winter has arrived. We’ve had snow on the ground for a week now. Usually we don’t get snow until Hallowe’en. We had a major blizzard last year for Thanksgiving. I don’t care what the experts say. It’s getting colder here.
Ah yes…I’m guessing the Interlake area of Manitoba? I remember it well…Ashern, Gypsumville, St. Martin’s. Froze my butt off there. Snow on the ground as late as the end of May, most years.
NW Calgary here. The birds are raiding the neighbour’s berry bushes, but none are hungry enough to go for our choke cherry yet. That’s usually February and later food for them.
The dog is mighty annoyed that her narrow path to the peeing area leaves her sides and belly cold when she comes back in. Her affronted look asks us why she’s the only member of the family who has to go pee (outdoors).
MIner…
“.The dog is mighty annoyed that her narrow path to the peeing area leaves her sides and belly cold when she comes back in. Her affronted look asks us why she’s the only member of the family who has to go pee (outdoors)…”
That right there is funny..! but here in Walden with at least 6-8″ on the ground, I’m on the 4th flr in our 2 bdrm Condo….taking Bentley out 2-3 times a day…me behind the “wheel” … I do miss opening the Back door to let him out…but never much liked cleaning said yard in april…
Cheers stay warm..!!
NR, the rabbit can’t get the seeds in the bird feeder:-))) Have a heart and set up a rabbit feeder:-))
What? “Set up a rabbit feeder”….why?
Dearie, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I do have a heart but such a set up for rabbits is already naturally there!
During warmer seasons, rabbits will eat weeds, grasses, clover, wildflowers, and flower and vegetable plants. When the weather turns cold, rabbits will munch on twigs, buds, bark, conifer needles, and any remaining green plants.
If the rabbits do eat seeds they’d get what the birds drop on the ground from the feeder. However I wouldn’t set up a rabbit feeder for fear of acquiring a fluffle or a group of bunnies in no time.
Have you ever seen what comprises the Hilton Hotel for rabbits? Ah, no thanks for this gal, I’d have way too much fertilizer on the property than I need.
Check this out, who has time to do this?
Perhaps only your city Zoo:
https://www.wikihow.com/Feed-a-Wild-Rabbit
“Set up a rabbit feeder”
In winter, the little guys in my neighbourhood have to work for their food. I see them digging through the snow in order to get at the grass below.
I save my kitchen scraps (usually carrot peelings) and leave them at the same spot at a baseball diamond across the street. In winter, those don’t stay there very long. It’s free food they don’t have to work for.
That’s a nice thing to do, B.
The rabbits sleep under the bushes here and run around a lot. If they don’t think they have a chance to get away from people fast enough they’ll lay still. I think they hope that they have enough protective coloration to not to get noticed, which is most of the time.
They do help me prune shrubs by leaving broken twigs and branches for their lunch. I don’t wish to give them any veggie peelings because that would attract voles, gophers, or worst, mice. Had a gopher and vole problem the last few years and finally got rid of them plus a bee hive. Got stung by a bee! Ouch!
I couldn’t set up rabbit feeders. We have coyotes in our neighborhood and I’m not keen to set up a wild dog-critter feed lot.
Besides those coyotes have a strange relationship with a US military-industral corp named Acme. I’m one rabbit trap from stepping on a bizarre spring-powered Goldberg device.
The next neighborhood over has a bobcat and they are unbelievably efficient at ‘managing’ the rabbits.
I do think the snow has pushed the coyotes into the neighborhood very early this year, they normally stay up on the hill until after Xmas.
Nancy:
I can tell that rabbits eat what I leave as I find not just their tracks there but also their–ahem–calling cards. They must feel safe enough in that location to be able to do that. The fence corner gives them protection from two directions.
Alec & B A…
Your rabbit friends act like they are eating in a gourmet restaurant, they leave tips for the waiter and maître’d…and they have no dishes to wash.
I forgot, the bobcat! Had one here too, once. Saw big cat on my critter camera about 2 or 3 years ago at about 6:00 am. Fat cat, he was! But no coyotes. Saw them one day driving in N.W. of Calgary, though. I did, however, once have 4 deer who hung around for hours like it was a day job. I think they were drunk on frozen crab apples. They kept leaping up into the tree to grab them. By the time they left at dusk the look of the yard was like they had had a wild party. There were broken branches, twigs everywhere, a chewed up dwarf mugho pine and they too had left their individual calling cards. I didn’t care. It was natural pruning!
You might wonder whether I would’ve gone outside to shoo them off, but I wasn’t at all tempted. I have 3 picture windows in the dining room-living room so I had quite a view, it was like as if they were in my house, they were so close by. Funny thing, this visit has never happened again. So, these were fair-weather friends, I guess!!
So it’s going to be a long, cold one. I should make sure the snow blower is starting well.
Long, cold and expensive as we transfer what little we have to various levels of government. I wonder how many will reach the breaking point this winter?
Way too many.
I hear that you guys…just a slow cruise through this city shows many shops gone out of business, Foothills INdustrial is a ghost town….very very sad.
I am ALL too grateful my awesome wife has (so far) a solid position with a major home builder and to date sales have not been that badly hit. Yongest Daughter studied her buns off all summer and is now a registered Insurance Agent…older Daughter going for her 2nd interview (having been found by a head hunter), with another home builder as a Contract Estimator – Construction Co-ordinator…we have our fingers crossed on that one.
This BS Demic is hitting the young VERY HARD…and the coming Maunder Min is not going to help…
This BS Demic is hitting the young VERY HARD
Yup. That’s one reason why I’ve been having a hard time selling stuff at the house I inherited. I’ve been getting fewer inquiries in the past few months.
Here in our area of the prairies the last 2 weeks have been brutal. October 11 was the last day with a double digit daily high and many night time low temps have been minus into the double digits, about 15 to 20 degrees C below average for this time of year with plenty of snow.
The Weather Network shows dangerous warmer days ahead but don’t they always since that’s their whole shtick.
Our son moved to Banff to work there and have a season of boarding.
He is thrilled that he gets to slap on the plank and be on Mount Norquay for opening day today!
We are happy FOR him! I am not excited about having to resume the driveway and sidewalk shoveling duties he has abandoned me with here in NW Calgary!!
You guys seem to get hit all the more harder up in that part of the city…(Edgemont to Royal Oak)….with everything.!! Also a lot higher than the rest of the city.
Didn’t Minty-snota set a record for early snow fall too?
I’m still waiting for David Suzuki to prove he’s right. He still won’t stand naked today to prove how warm it is outside. As of 6:00 AM it is 11F outside. The expected high today will only be 13F .
At 9:59 AM, it’s -10 C in the “deep” SW of Calgary. But then it’s Calgary. Don’t like the weather here, wait 10 minutes for the change. The “official” Calgary temperature (Calgary airport) shows -14 C, with the forecast of -20 C tonight and 10-20 cm of snow. We’re all gonna diiiiieeee. Don’t forget to pay your new, improved “Carbon Tax” to heat your home this winter. You pay Sock Bouy’s to keep him and his family warm…..for free.
The forecast is plus 8 C on Tuesday and moderate single digits all week. It’s October in Calgary. Meh.
Dr. Valentia Zharkova said that the sun cycle 25 was showing signs of a maunder minimum ! Global warming and Anthropogenic climate change are frauds!!!
If a Maunder Minimum is starting we will need all the fossil fuels we can get, but our agriculture and food supply will be hit hard!
The Globalists will fight this because their whole theory is tied to the destruction of fossil fuels!!!
ill take things you wont read on cbcpravda for $100 Alex
al gore owes us 12 ft of sealevel rise since 2012 , that should be the starting point of any conversation .
humans occupy 6% of the land surface , 2% of the total surface of the planet , does no one look out of the window of an airplane , there is nothing there most of the time
Somebody ask that asshole Joe Biden how do many people heat their homes.
My little part of the prairies has been getting snow and cold since near the beginning of the month, six or more inches of accumulated snow on the ground and temp hasn’t gone above freezing for the last few days. My theory is that Mother Nature is going to be giving the global warming crowd the middle finger this year. Will they learn, not likely, it almost impossible to teach the terminally stupid anything.
I just looked into the courtyard of our apartment complex and I saw two of my rabbit buddies sitting on the ground near some rocks. They haven’t changed colour yet, so, with the snow that’s already on the ground, they are feeling rather conspicuous.
Mind you, considering how small they manage to make themselves and the colour of their fur, one might mistake them for some of those rocks. That’s helping to keep them safe right now.
We shoveled twice Friday and woke up to more this (Saturday) morning here in SW Calgary. Minus 11C for today’s high, 20 degrees celsius colder than average. Outboard feeder gets a lot of traffic from sparrows, finches and jays. The forecast is calling for plus 9C next Tuesday. Just waiting for de Caprio to scream “Climate warming!”
Likewise. Shoveled twice yesterday and once more this morning.
We have bunnies hanging around all year round, and I have occasionally seen some eating grass on my lawn. They tend to come and go. Haven’t seen any hanging around lately, but their tracks are visible in the snow, so they must be hiding.
As seen last January; A meeting of the Rabbit Transit Commission
Meanwhile, yesterday, here in Kelowna, a record snowfall occurred. The ski hill people are happy, but I was shovelling the driveway while fantasizing about beating Al Gore’s fat head with my shovel.
I took in 8 small geranium plants and one begonia that didn’t grow to be too big last summer mostly because they were crowded in pots with other annuals which stifled their growth. I’m ready for Spring now! Heck, Autumn isn’t even over, it’s supposed to be 8°C on Tuesday.
Shoveled about 4-6 inches of snow this morning and it’s -10°C out there — not a bit windy.
William came to mind. Yes that one. They used to force us to memorize his poems in school. This one comes to mind today as I sIt here with my plants, my thoughts, my morning brew and thoughts of you, dear reader.
Happy weekend guys!
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50652/song-blow-blow-thou-winter-wind
I would come over and shovel the snow for you Nancy but i am several miles away 1675 to be precise but only1456 nautical miles. Maybe i will take the boat.
I’m at ~ 3500 feet above sea level upstream but thanks for the offer anyway Alex!
Great link Nancy:
“…….And summer’s lease hath all too short a date…”
“Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity…”
So we can shitcan that carbon tax now.
My wife and i honeymooned in Banff in 82.
Norquay was my fave,no lines no people and some jaw dropping runs,i was an ex ski bum at the time,
I do not think the little lady enjoyed it at the time (she was a rookie skier) but loathed would she complain
I miss her now that we are divorced.
I have to haul water for the house. At Thanksgiving, I hauled two loads, which I don’t normally do since I can’t get two tanks into the cistern, but with family and friends for Thanksgiving I figured I’d get most of it in, and then with only two cold days in the forecast at the time, I’d put the rest in later that week. Well, ever since then there’s been 300 gallons of ice in the tank, and a split valve. It better warm up next week like they say or I’ll have to get creative.
I remember thanksgivings where we lolled about on the deck and others where we rushed to bring in the water supply.
Thanksgiving is weird like that.
Would it be too cruel to reward Gang Green for their “help” by dipping them in water,inserting a rectal thermometer and running a betting pool on when their core temperature reaches ambient outside temperature?
Sorry to paint such a vile picture but I have run out of all kinds of tolerance,compassion and Fucks to give for these useless parasites.
These are fools so gullible they endanger us all.
Persons so lacking in socially beneficial skills,that I can think of few other ways they can provide any service of value to those of us who pay to house and feed them.
Soft times allow stupid people and ideas to flourish,which so far has invariably lead to hard times for all,social collapse and misery.
Which leads to hard men and savage citizens seeking vengeance on those who we let betray us.
I love the luxury of our current lifestyle,I do not seek its end.
But I can see events cascading toward that results as the useless and the clueless lust after power over the rest of us,fools who see only the “Power” but never the responsibility.
And a populace who has lived pain free for 3 generations seems bent on giving the mindless fools that power they demand.
Now on the concept of retribution.
Progressives keep repeating the wish to punish people for “Wrong Vote”.
When you vote in person,apparently it remains a secret.
But “Vote By Mail” requires your personal details be packaged with the written record of how you voted..
So is it just a coincidence that our progressive comrades are all in on Vote By Mail?
If i say you make too much seance would you be perturbed?