As central Saskatchewan continues to dig out from this thing, a few readers have sent photos. Some of the best are here. Most of the weather geeks have agreed that it’s the worst such event since 1955. (Three people lost their lives – all of them after leaving their stranded or rolled vehicles.)
I finished my own shoveling yesterday by tackling the driveway. It was as deep as my hip in some places, thanks to the caragana hedge. This is old fashioned blizzard snow – not the fake fluffy stuff. It’s hard packed and comes apart in the shovel in big, heavy chunks. It reminds me of a winter when I was still small enough to ride the Shetland pony – the drifts were about 8 feet high in the windbreak west of the farm that winter, and I could ride him across their tops.
Despite being featured by Peter Mansbridge a few nights ago under the subtitle of “Canada’s Weird Weather”, there’s nothing out of the ordinary in any of the weather we’ve seen this year. Not in my experience, at least. I was reminded of a piece that was published about 20 years ago in our local history book (one of many that were published at the time). I’m going to quote a portion of The Post War Era, by Chick Childerhose, for historical context and typing exercise.
Springtime. In the Saskatchewan I remember, May was my month. That was when the snow began to melt, the ground slowly reappeared and water flowed into the low-lying places. Imagine a sunny day in early May, 1947, Jack Purdy had opened his beer parlor for business and the early “regulars” had gathered. Discussion on world, national, and local problems was abruptly suspended by a shout from the door: “Hey! There’s a bunch of guys from Carlyle punching through the big drift at Ritchie Askins’.”
The ten-mile stretch of Highway 13 between Carlyle and Arcola had been closed since before Christmas. Now, according to our wild-eyed informant, the yeomen of Carlyle had decided to open it. They had shoveled their way thorough nine miles of drifts and now their convoy of cars and pickup trucks was stalled a mile short of their goal: Arcola.
A madness fell upon us. Whether it was the beautiful spring day and we were “cabin-fever” victims about to be let out of the cabin… I do not know., Yes, I do: it was those guys from Carlyle! They had snuck up on us. They were planning to drive right into Arcola and jeer at us for having to be dug out of hibernation. A rescue, sort of, by better men. The shame, the shame! The Carlyle guys must not be allowed to open our road. This is what caused the near-hysterical abandonment of the beer emporium. Shovels and transportation were what we needed.
Did I mention that the drift in front of Ritchie Askins’ place was 12 feet high? It was. But we couldn’t get to it until we had shovelled our way through a half-mile of four-foot deep, hard-packed drifts that got deeper the close we got to Askins’ driveway. By the time we arrived there, it looked like we were digging a tunnel. Actually, it was a large trench. Only four of us could work at the snow-face. The snow was so hard that we had to cut and lift it out in blocks. These were thrown on the road behind us, and were reshoveled by the second team up onto the banks. A third team rested in relays.
It was during one of my team’s rest periods that the thought occured: What if it was all a joke and there were no Carlyle guys? For so deep and formidable was the snow mountain in front of us, that no sounds of digging could be heard from the other side. I scaled the height and trekked across the top and there they were! First I saw the line of mud-encrusted vehicles, then as I got closer to the edge, the shovellers. Cries and curses. Jokes and taunts. Hilarity. For the madness was on them too, you see.
It took another four hours before the giant snow drift was pierced and then widened enough to permit passage by cars and trucks. We had done it! The road to Carlyle was open! Winter was officially over. Yay! And did we invite our Carlyle “guests” back to town for a beer? Hell no… we left them to complete their quixotic race to Arcola where they drove without stopping to our beer parlor. We piled into our cars and trucks and high-balled it through the incredible mud, slush, water, ruts and remaining snowdrifts to Carlyle. Of course! Straight to their beer parlor.
My grandparents moved from North Dakota to Acme Alberta in the late 1890’s. I remember my grandfather telling me about the year they settled in Alberta, they planted crops in January and after the harvest they again planted in either June or July, then they had the mother of all winters.
But thats a story that doesnt help the hockey stick crowd so dont tell anyone.
That story has shades of Leacock all over it! I’ll have to ask mom if the snow really was that bad around there in ’47!
Worst since 1955? Come on. There is usually 2 blizzards a year in Saskatchewan. The drifts aren’t even that high in the Saskatoon photos.
January is usually crap in the prairies.
Just finished looking at storm photos and although I’m sure there was lots of blowing snow the other day which created dangerous conditions I honestly don’t believe this storm can compare to many I experienced in Sask.when going to school and later on travelling across Manitoba and Sask. in my employment.Now we have instant communication which seems to over highlight most events .
That didn’t look that bad. Yeah, bit of snow, but we even get one of those every two or three years in the Centre of the Universe. Why, when I was kid living just east of the CofU, snow drifts were so high we added an extra 20 miles to the walk to school just going up and over them on the way.
And that was with only one snowshoe for three of us, and it was all uphill, both ways. We could never take our coats off when we got home from school because we had to head back 20 minutes later just to get there in time for the next day. Even the army couldn’t clear it… Wot a bunch of wusses… 🙂
The weather has always been weird – check out the stories in the Bible, the Illiad or any history book. I believe there is a mention in Peter C. Newman’s history of the Hudsons Bay Co. where the the ice never left Lake Winnipeg all summer.
In the old days when the weather got weird they thought the Gods were angry or someone had sinned. Remedies included burning a witch or sacrificing a virgin. Personally I think this bad weather is all Belinda Stronachs fault and she should be burned at the stake for the good of Canada.
There really wasn’t a lot of new snow in this one – the issue was the whiteout and extreme windchills. Very high winds, and for a long period of time – that’s what they used to compare it to others, or so we’re told.
For once, I wasn’t on the road.
settle down folks, Global warming will continue until Toronto gets its first big one, you know one big enough to have the army come out and shovel instead of engaging the enemy.
Off topic sorry … but check it out.
G&M poll … “is the government’s multi-cultural policy working”
It’s about 50/50 right now.
Go vote … we need to get back to shared values.
Hey Bear, The snow WAS that bad in the winter of ’47-’48. There was at least one if not more trains in southern SK stuck in snow for the winter. They stayed there until spring thaw. Although not as bad as ’47-’48, ’55-’56 had a helluva pile of snow as well. That was my last year of high school and I could look down on the telephone wires from horseback for 4 of the six miles. New Years Eve ’59 had a doozie blizzard as well. I was visiting relatives at Dog River (Rouleau) at the time and remember one poor devil got stuck about 1/2 mile north of town on the highway. He tried to walk back to town and didn’t make it. This one this past week was a bad one too, but by no means an aberration.
Greetings from sub-tropical southwestern Ontario.
1. You lucky guys! We’ve had northern California around here since November with a two-day break this week when it got nice and chilly. Have to keep piling soil on my roses, the buds were fattening up. Back to mild. I’d love to have a few feet of snow right now. Just makes life easier.
2. Be careful and keep your wits about you when driving, shovelling, etc. Hang tough but hang tight and smart.
3. Ever since I was a kid (50s onward), we’ve had cold winters, mild winters and some in between. El Nino always throws a spanner into the works.
Hope your roof holds, glad you got your system working and thanks for the great story.
looked at the pictures , I dont think Ive seen that much snow since the August snow storm of about 15 years ago.
http://www.iceagenow.com/Global_Warming_Myth.htm
When I was 8, which would be in the winter of 71 I remember being at my Grandpas farm near Allan and the snow was drifted as high as the caraganas which was about 12 feet. It was great for making snow caves.
From CBC
“Deep freeze paralyzes Manitoba
Plunging temperatures and strong winds made it feel like nearly –50 C in some parts of Manitoba on Friday, as winter returned with a vengeance.”
Yes but it’s a dry cold.
Watch for the comet on the eastern horizon just before sunrise and sunset. With those nice, clear skies, it should be spectacular.
…it wasn’t that long ago (80’s) up at Cold Lake, AB we’d have a week to two of -40C/F and 50Km winds…they didn’t factor wind chill back then. Who cared, it was COLD!
Coming from Vancouver I didn’t know what the electrical cords hanging out the front of cars were for…thought maybe to recharge the batteries because I heard it got cold at night…and riding square tires in my old ’75 Buick Lesabre gave my first taste of winter, .
Speaking of Vancouver and snow in the same breath, I remember as a teenager (70’s)shovelling the neighbours sidewalks for a buck. Every year we’d hope it would snow at least 2″ and maybe, maybe the temperature would be 25F (-5c) and listen to the radio about schools closing.
Then come to Alberta and see kids still going to school when it’s -20 in 12″ snow…blew my mind.
I got some pictures of driving back from Red Deer to Calgary on Wednesday 10th. Got into a white out five times near Bowden. Freaky, then realizing there’s a semi behind me didn’t make matters better…
Erg…
Then something suddenly popped into view during the white out that scared the crap out of me.
See it in the last picture:
http://www.digitalsmiles.com/blizz07.htm
😉
Here is what it looked like at 1:30pm outside my house: (It wasn’t as dark as it looks in the video, I just shot an 20 sec. clip with a digital camera to send someone an email.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hQzcYKii1g
It got worse throughout the day and we couldn’t see the houses across the street for long periods on time.
I’m glad I wasn’t able to see where the highway was in the morning so I didn’t even try to drive to work.
I spent the winter of 81’82’ in Faro. Minus forty to forty-five for weeks on end. Not much wind, thank my lucky stars, but so cold. Layers of clothing gave you a penguin walk. Beatiful country, fantastic Northern Lights. Well worth the trip. The further North you go the bigger the country seems to get.
oops “beautiful”
as you go north the trees get smaller so the country looks larger. until you get to Ellesmere island then quick as you can say “Stephanes hair looks like an ecodisaster” the geography changes and the country is smaller as the iceshelves break off.
“as you go north the trees get smaller so the country looks larger. until you get to Ellesmere island then quick as you can say “Stephanes hair looks like an ecodisaster” the geography changes and the country is smaller as the iceshelves break off.”
LOL snort snort pizza time
I was north of Fort Mac in ’80. Got down to fifty below a couple of times. Propane is a liquid at that temperature, we’d pour it in a pail.
A lot the above bad winter stories are during the 60s and 70s. Our life times. Ask the elders about the 20s&30s. Lots of warm almost snowless winters back then. Read letters written during the 1880s-90s. Lots of brutal Canadian winters. 1860s, … get the picture ?? Climate/weather varies. Always has, always will.
Also, see Dr. Tim Ball and his 300 years worth of weather data from The Hudson Bay Company. Every few decades saw big changes.
Also, the very first Canadian explorers, Laverende, Palister reported a very different Prairie climate every blooming decade of their travels. Too hot for agriculture. No, too cold. Too dry ….
And today we have eco-nut-cases like Al piece-of-sky-in-hand Gore preaching like he is a Mesiah of knowledge. Take heart, all Hoaxes and Scams fail. Bet on it. Not on carbon credit paper.
Len Pryor,
Not that it matters but, if my addled old brain is functioning correctly, the winter of the big snow was 46-47, not 47-48
Not that I remember it, but the all-time doozy was 1906-07. That’s the winter when 80% of the cattle in southwestern Sask perished and, after the snow melted, some were found, in deep coulees, suspended in poplar branches 20′ from the ground. Most of the big outfits were ruined, so there was little opposition when the whole southwest was opened for homesteading.
I looked at the pictures (nice, BTW), and came to the conclusion that there was an average of about a foot of snow there. Strong winds blew it around, but not that much snow. We got that, and perhaps a bit more, in Aylmer a few weeks befor Xmas, and you didn’t here us whining (grin).
I thought that Saskies were made of stronger stuff than these effete complainers. Guess that’s just an old wives tale, like the Roughriders being a real football team. Look on the bright side, though … you don’t have Winnipeg in your province!
I spent a year in Saskatchewan and came home to the east in the middle of May, 1970: snowstorm in Regina and a few hours later, everything green and growing in Ontario. Talk about climate change! No headlines then.
We used to get that kind of snow and more every winter in Sudbury Ontario in the 50’s and 60’s, so it doesn’t strike me as unusual. Secondly, I had occasion to live in London Ontario in the seventies and the worst winter I have ever enountered was there in 75 or 76. Couldn’t go out of the house for 3 days during one storm.
Nothing really strange about the weather in my mind except that it’s become a little more unexpected in ways.
This year and last we’ve had unusual weather. I live in Manitoba. This year, we’ve had record highs many many times. Beating 1800’s records for temperature. But today we’re in a deep freeze ( -36 this morning ) but it was above freezing a few days ago. We have had 20-25 degree swings in as little as 24 hours in some cases. Weird.
Les
It’s easy to forget how bad visibility can get in open country. Some of the in-town pix had poor visibility, and I’m not surprised to hear the stories about whiteout conditions. Very sad about the three deaths.
When reading the daily weather records for ‘this day’, one notices that the record (high or low) may have been set in 1927, .. or maybe 2005 or 1898 or any friggin’ year, from this year to a hundred years ago. Or even the first year temp data was ever taken.
One of the best souces of very long term accurate weather data was collected by the Hudson Bay Co. Hundreds of years worth. Tim Ball researched it extensively. Did Al Gore or Suzuki consult him ?? Nope. Too busy ducking pieces of sky.
And, just think. Go back say, 80 years and put a thermometer up on the bald prairie about 5 miles west of the Forks in Wpg. Now today, keep on taking temp data from that same, 80 year old thermometer, in same original place. Because it is now surrounded by city, will it register higher than another 20 miles out ?? Gee, think ?
Many weather stations are situated at airports. Some are surrounded by cities now. Airports have 30,000 hp size machines roaming around putting out millions and millions of BTUs every day.
Enviro Can has to skew, intentionaly or otherwise, very little data to get a 1 degree increase over a century. Would they let that happen ?? Well, Dion was increasing EC budgets by Billions when he was enviro Min. To help fight GW, of course. We haven’t seen the raw temp data so how do we know for sure ??
“Many weather stations are situated at airports. Some are surrounded by cities now. ”
Winnipeg’s isn’t. It’s at the outskirts. I go by my own temperature guage on my house. It matches what they report for my area. I’m 60 miles from the forks.
Les
I also have photos of my area from 80 years ago and it’s the same. Same trees, etc. I’m way in the rurals. So it’s not like the landscape has changed. ??
Les
Fritz?
In the old days when the weather got weird they thought the Gods were angry or someone had sinned. Remedies included burning a witch or sacrificing a virgin. Personally I think this bad weather is all Belinda Stronachs fault and she should be burned at the stake for the good of Canada.
While I can see the “witch” part easily enough, from what I’ve read about your Belinda, “virginity” was a so long ago as to be but a fond memory…
Regardless, I hope my Canadian neighbors stay safe and snug, Brrr!
If you click on Toronto on the Environment Canada website you are directed to the station at Pearson International. A few days ago I decided to look at the history of January temperatures there.
The data goes back to November 1937. The average daily high for January is -2.1. Average daily low : -10.5. Four January daily average highs at Pearson were notably warm:
’06 – 3.8
’90 – 2.8
’02 – 2.7
’50 – 2.7
The four coldest January daily average highs at Pearson:
’77 – -7.5
’94 – -7.3
’45 – -7.2
’70 – -5.9
I was surprised to learn that it’s not unusual for Toronto to have overnight lows of -20 or less in January.
There are 69 Januaries recorded at Pearson and only 20 of those didn’t have at least one over night low of -20 or less. 17 of those 20 were clustered in two seperate runs of 17 years each: 1944 to 1960(9 instances) and 1990 to 2006(8 instances).
So which set of Januaries is warmer?
Average daily high 1990 -2006 : -1.1
Average daily high 1944 -1960 : -1.6
Average daily low 1990 – 2006 : -9.0
Average daily low 1944 – 1960 : -9.4
Total number of lows -20 or less 1990 – 2006 : 37 {Avg. 2.2}
Total number of lows -20 or less 1944 – 1960 : 36 {Avg. 2.1}
Number of above average Januaries 1990 -2006 : 11
Number of above average Januaries 1944 – 1960 : 10
Not exactly the apocalypse.
The years 1961 to 1989 were cooler. There were 17 consecutive Januaries, 1961 to 1977, that each delivered at least one low of -20 or less. The average number during these years was 4.3.
But the icy nadir of this 29 year intermission from warmer Januaries were the years 1976 to 1985.
Pearson has recorded only 6 instances of daily lows of -30 or less. One was during the legendary January of 1994. The other five were here: 1976(2), 1977(2), and 1981(1). January 4, 1981 is the record for cold at Pearson, ever : -31.3. With the wind chill, -44.5.
Average daily high 1976 – 1985 : -4.2
Average daily low 1976 – 1985 : -12.9
Total number of lows -20 or less : 50 (Avg. 5)
Above average Januaries : 2
I mentioned Pearson’s four worst. Here’s the next six:
’81 : -5.6
’40 : -5.2
’04 : -5.2
’82 : -5.1
’84 : -5.0
’63 : -4.9
’76 to ’85 – during which the young Kinsella came east for school – has four of Pearson’s 10 coldest average daily highs.
And that’s the thing. The years ’44 to ’60 are passing from living memory. I reckon you’d have to be in your 70’s, as well as a longtime resident, to be old enough to appreciate them. But you only have to be in in your 40’s or 50’s – prime time for movers and shakers – to well remember Toronto winters like these.
Apples and oranges.
And why weather trends CANNOT be measured in human lifespans as any reasonable yardstick for weather trend data… FWIW, the nearest weather station to me is at Munro airport in Hamilton (or Hamilton International as its known when someone clears a flight to Buffalo). Its on an exposed open plain. I live, as the crow flies, about 15 km from the airport, tucked into the shadow of the Niagara escarpment. I track calibrated basic weather data for humidity, windspeed & direction, chill, & temp. Based on my location, the airport might as well be on the prairie – the microclimate difference would suggest we weren’t even in the same province. The difference created by the escarpment is enough to make a two week difference in the seasonal activity of my plants when compared to a location a kilometer away on the top of the escarpment. Like real estate weather data collection is all about location, location, location. If your sampling isn’t representative, neither is your data. Curreet observed trends point more to an inconvenience for some, not a tragedy for all, and in any case the the human timebase may well be, and likely is, meaningless.
The roads we have now are high and wide and often blow clear. Fifty years ago they were narrow flat trails. When the plows came through thirty years ago they piled the snow on either side of the road so that the next little storms filled in the roads much more easily than the first time. Now the snow is hauled away and the day after a storm it’s back to summer driving conditions. I couldn’t believe how quickly travel was back to normal after this storm.
We’ve been in this Northern Ontario community for 35 years. I do recall a lot more snow.When I took up cross country skiing we could ski over the fences. That has not been possible for the last 5 years. So we can admit ‘change’ . I will not endorse junk science that claims it is all caused by humans, therefore the pressure for the government to get into ‘climate control’ is hideous.
BTW re: temps in the past: I recall a photo of my older siblings taken in the 40’s…out in their sweaters in January.(just south of TO)
The NOAA in the U.S. has a data base that will produce charts and trends compared to any decade in the last 110 years. By comparing the last years to the past 100 years (In North America)the actual trend shows a slight cooling. NOAA is a rabid global warming fear monger but even their own data betrays them. There have always been warming and or cooling trends and there always will be. The trick is not to let these chicken little bastards ruin our economy just so they can scare more “research” money out of the sheep that blindly follow.
I was speaking with my mother this morning(she lives in Western Newfoundland) and winter finally arrived. She told me that when I was three, back in the fifties, that they didn’t have any snow until March and then it only lasted a week. She also told me that when she was growing up they had winters when there was no snow. This was a worry because they had no refrigeration , or electricity for that matter, and meat was usually hung in storage sheds. So if I am to believe my mother, and I do, then mild winters are not unique to this year alone.
Michael Crichton has several good essay’s on the subject, “Environmentalism as Religion” and “Aliens cause Global Warming” are two that come to mind. Both are very good reads and I would recommend them to anyone who wishes to debate the enviromental issue. His site is http://www.michaelcrichton.net/
I live in SW Sask and the one storm that I remember best is January 1978. It blew for five days and virtually nothing moved during that time. A train got hung up near Webb and had to be dug out by shovel. And it was very cold too.
There are some greats pics of the Saskatoon strom on the CJME.com web site for anyone interested.
One thing about the internet and blogs is that we can all check the facts re weather of the past and try and educate all the believers in GW that it is not due to man, humans or cows. We just have to get facts, pics etc to take to the town hall meetings, send to editors, call the talk shows, to blow dion, layton, may and others back to kingdom come. What did dion say about the trees in BC. My suggestion to reduce co2 emmissions is for all liberals to stop breathing for 10 minutes, 5 times a day. They could time this to work with muslim prayers.
OK, certain Canadian imports into the US are acceptable. Oil shale, lumber, Allanis Morisette, etc., But enough is enough. The cold front you guys sent has the temperature in Orange County at 32F. And we can’t use smudge pots anymore to protect the few orange groves we have left.
hey PETA dont want to help out the livestock stranded in the rocky mountians becuase of the snow becuase the PETA jerks say these animals will only be sluaghtered and then their killing animals themselves and blabbering about comapsion in their stupid ads what a bunch of wussie wackos the animals should never depend on PETA they will get no help