A dismal year is nearly over but there’s still time for more celebrity deaths to pile up like cord wood. In the past week alone George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds have all died. The deaths have happened so often that I am nearly expecting to find a celebrity death story every time I visit the CBC News website (just checked–none so far today).
For myself, I am happy to still be kicking, even if the winter break from work has been marred by a sore back the first week and a cold the second week (which I am still fighting). NeoCitran and NyQuil have been my best pals, one offering comfort by day, the other by night. I hate that I am taking them, but have to admit modern medicine is pretty spiffy in masking how horrible you might otherwise feel.
I even went for a walk today. Most of the sidewalks are bare, but there’s still copious snow around. It’s been weeks and it is silly. They are forecasting a return to sub-freezing temperatures in the week ahead, with more snow still on tap for tomorrow, New Year’s Eve. Because nothing says a safe night out like driving on New Year’s Eve in a snowstorm.
I’m staying home and hiding under the covers.
If all goes well I may at least be healthy enough to go to the pool by the end of the week. I’m penciling in a run outside sometime for early spring when the last of the snow has finally melted.
As foretold my the ancient prophecies and my post yesterday, it was a white Christmas as the crusty, icy snow from two weeks ago is still lingering around in plentiful amounts. Fortunately, it was also clear so I took the opportunity to go for a walk and keep my back from seizing up. Win-win as long as I didn’t fall. Which I nearly did, multiple times.
As I headed out one of my primary objectives was to find the least slippery route. The majority of sidewalks are clear, as are the streets so this was pretty simple until I got to Hume Park. Once there I got my first look at the Great Tree Destruction of Early Winter 2016. This tree fell near the kids playing area, intent on squashing a tot or two. It had already been cut up by park workers or passing lumberjacks.
One less tree to pester people in Hume Park
The next timber that had timbered was across the trail at the bottom of the stairs leading into Lower Hume Park. This is the same spot where two trees came down during the windstorm of August 2015. It is a very popular spot for trees to fall over, apparently. No one had touched this one yet but I was able to climb over it without issue. (UPDATE: This tree was finally cut up and removed in April 2017.)
Another one bites the dust. Well, snow.
The stairs, which I did not take a picture of because it likely would have resulted in many broken bones, were covered in compacted snow that had developed an icy sheen. The compacted snow was also lumpy. This had the following effect when placing feet on the steps:
impossible for feet to rest solidly, causing them to slide
sliding on an already slippery surface causes more sliding
with little room to accommodate aforementioned sliding it becomes very easy to slide off the current step, land on the one below and then continue the process until the bottom of the staircase is reached, where one would arrive in a pile of broken bones and contusions
I went down the stairs by gripping the handrail with both of my gloved hands and clutching as if my life depended on it, which it did, probably. Even so, I still had my feet give way a few times, nearly causing me to go down express-style. At this point, I knew I would not be coming back up, no matter which way my route went from here.
The third fallen tree was leaning over the sidewalk on North Road, just before the turn-off onto the Brunette River trail. I didn’t take a picture of it because the sidewalk here was not in good shape. It also didn’t look that dramatic as it wasn’t blocking my path.
A short way down the river trail I came across fallen trees #4 and #5. These had been cut and cleared but the debris area indicated they had come down on the trail, intent on taking out hungry squirrels or people out walking in the snow because it’s pretty. While I did take a picture, I prefer this image instead, showing the amazing power of sewers to melt snow. There is a sewer line that parallels the river and every manhole (peoplehole?) cover was a snow-free zone. This batch of eight was big enough to have a picnic on, albeit a stinky picnic.
Sewers: fighting snow since ancient Rome
Fallen tree #6 was at Burnaby Lake. I ventured as far as the Cariboo Dam, where I normally start my runs. The first shot shows the uprooted tree from just behind. It fell away from the picnic area, so only wandering polar bears would have been at risk. The sun is already low in the sky because we have about 40 minutes of sunlight per day right now. Good ol’ winter.
Burnaby Lake, now with one less tree
This shot gives a better view of the trail, which is now a slick, icy insurance claim waiting to happen. I knew it would be like this but it was still kind of depressing. It’s going to take a lot of sun or a lot of rain to clear this out before running can resume. And we are expecting more snow, possibly in as soon as a few hours. I will need to develop an unnatural love for treadmills, for unnatural is all it would be. Or take up knitting, which is currently not affected by snow.
Good conditions for running if you are a snow leopard or abominable snowman
And so it was here that I ended my snowy trek, turning back and heading up to ride the SkyTrain home. It was nice to get out and despite being 2ºC I managed to keep up enough of a pace to not feel cold. But I’d rather be running because when I’m running I’m not within eating distance of Bugles, Ferraro Rocher or other evil concoctions I have foolishly kept in the household.
Two days ago I took a stroll along the Brunette River trail, one of my usual jogging routes. It was sunny out but given the (evil-sounding) polar vortex, it was also quite chilly–below freezing, in fact, something that doesn’t happen too often in these parts, especially during the day. It is this continued polar vortex that has allowed the snow to hang around much longer than normal.
Specifically, this snow:
While it is very pretty, trying to run on uneven, compacted snow is less than ideal. In fact, it is probably a good way to fall and go splat, and having done that once this past summer, I’m not eager to do it again in the winter, with the bonus of snow, ice and freezing temperatures tossed in.
Today, two days later, it clouded over and snowed again, piling more snow on top of the existing snow. Tomorrow is forecast to be above freezing, meaning additional snow will actually be rain and bring about the slushpocalypse. The good news is if we get enough rain and it stays above freezing the whole mess will be gone in a few days or so and I can finally run outdoors again, as nature intended.
I won’t promise this will be my last post about the weather, but there’s a 50% chance it’s the last one I’ll make for the rest of the year (13 days).
It’s better than molten lava pouring down the streets.
It makes things ever so slightly quieter outside, creating a pseudo-small town ambience.
There’s no chance of it piling up between May and August (note: this may change in a few decades).
Provides opportunity to build cool forts at no cost (cool forts–get it?!)
As far as we know, snow doesn’t cause cancer.
The current forecast calls for 3-7 cm of snow on Saturday. This qualifies as a moderate amount of snow. Sunday’s forecast is 22 mm of rain, turning the freshly fallen snow into less-than-fresh piles of slush. Fortunately (?) the rest of the week looks wet enough (and above freezing) that it should wash away whatever remnants of the white stuff that survives the weekend.
Running on Sunday is looking a tad dicey, though. I’ve never run in slush and it’s not something that makes my socks roll up and down in excitement, either.
The snow stopped and now with temperatures dropping below freezing, all of the plowed and shoveled surfaces are turning from gleaming wet to gleaming ice. Tomorrow’s commute, on foot and wheel, will be interesting. And by interesting I mean sliding and falling and crashing.
And then it will start raining again for the next four months (or back to normal). Is the weather this fall getting to me? Perhaps. Perhaps a little!
I still feel guilty every time I post about the weather. Sure, as climate change begins wreaking havoc on our planet, weather talk becomes somewhat more interesting but ordinary weather, no matter how unpleasant or SAD-making, is still pretty boring as a topic of discussion. I promise this, then–my next post will be about nude volcano hiking.
A month earlier than last winter we got our first snow of the season today. With the temperature just above freezing the snow was wet, heavy and turned into a slushy mess on sidewalks and roads where it wasn’t shoveled or plowed away. For awhile when it was sticking to tree branches it was kind of pretty, though!
Environment Canada ended then resumed the snowfall warning for the Lower Mainland, so who knows if we’ll get more tomorrow. It’s dropping below freezing tonight which means things will be good ‘n icy for the morning commute. People here don’t cope well with the first snow of the season–or, really, just any snow at all. They cope even worse with ice. This is where teleporters would come in really handy.
Here’s a picture of the college at midday with the snow doing its thing. Like I said, it’s kind of pretty but my romance with snow ended after I got my driver’s license and that was…a little while ago.
The second day of fall was cool, wet and for good measure a strong wind would occasionally gust up.
One of the perks, such as it is, of global warming/climate change/more extreme weather is a trend away from our usual months of incessant rain and gray skies during the fall and winter. I like it, even as I secretly know we’ll eventually have penguins living in Vancouver as a result*.
This is my way of saying I miss summer even more than I did yesterday when it was still sunny and warm.
I also skipped my noon walk because of the rain and now feel slothful and lazy. I may run tomorrow as penance.
* I’m pretty sure the penguins will remain in the Antarctic, but you never know, maybe a rogue ice floe bearing a distraught penguin family will survive all the way up to the west coast
I have finally learned to fully embrace complaining about the weather. It’s fun!
But at the same time it’s not very exciting to read about, so I will be brief.
The problem, as I see it, is I have been wearing pants far too often this summer. This is not to say that I am advocating walking around sans pants, as that would likely attract attention I do not want. Rather, it is to say that I am wearing jeans instead of shorts because the weather is stubbornly being not very summer-like. Thinking back, I would say that April, May and June were all nicer than July, which has seen one really warm day sandwiched between a bunch with lower-than-seasonal temperatures, clouds a-plenty and rain frequent enough to make puddle-dodging a regular occurrence when I run.
All of this was preceded by a long term summer forecast that called for drier and warmer conditions, similar to the two previous summers. Instead, the water rationing is looking a little silly with every lawn a lush and vibrant green without any hosing down required. On the plus side, the air conditioning bills are lower, we don’t have that blasted desert look going on and it provides a comforting illusion that global climate change isn’t really happening.
But still. More sun and clear skies, please. It can rain in November. I won’t complain, honest*.
It’s hard to believe that June 5 was only two weeks ago. Back then it was Africa hot, the kind of hot where the air itself feels warm, like you could cut into it with a knife.
I say it’s hard to believe not because the time has flown by, but because so many of the days since then have seen lower-than-normal temperatures, along with enough showers to make the current water rationing seem a bit silly. It’s as if the nice weather was all just a convincing hoax. Perhaps it will be bone dry for the next two months and I’ll come to regret my complaints about more or less typical June weather. Perhaps we will look back and reflect bitterly on what we will come to know as The Great Dustbowl of 2016.
I suspect not.
Evidence that summer is coming, if only according to the calendar, was seen today as I traipsed through Hume Park during a respite from the rain, as the swimming pool has been outfitted with slides and filled with water. It would have looked inviting had the temperature been about ten degrees higher. Maybe next week. Actually, according to the forecast, the highest it will get in the next ten days is 26ºC and that’s next Sunday (and entire week from now), meaning it could conceivably be snowing by then, given rapidly changing weather conditions (you think I jest and yet Grouse Mountain got snow recently, something that sits awkwardly next to their summer promotional advertising). The next five days appear to be a dreary mix of cloud and rain. I suppose it could be worse. I could still be operating the concession at Locarno Beach and openly weeping over the loss of revenue. By the way, do people still go to the beach to tan anymore or do people slather themselves with super-strength sunblock and just go through the motions?)
P.S. I promise the next post will not be about the weather. PROMISE.
It got up to 31º C today, nearly 10 degrees above the average. Even the breeze was hot. Given that this is still the first week of June you might think this would be an omen pointing toward a very hot summer. However, the forecast is calling for rain and below seasonal temperatures just days from now, so who knows.
One day we’ll have smart robots that will know exactly what weather is coming. And they will use it against us because robots don’t care if it rains.
I like running. Sometimes I don’t much like the weather conditions I run in. This is a list of those conditions, ranked from “pretty good” to “please make it stop.”
15. Overcast and light breeze. This is actually ideal conditions. It is usually never too cold or warm when the weather is like this.
14. Moderate wind. Moderate wind is fine. I have a cap that stays in place now.
13. Warm sun. Warm is no big thing. I’m talking about 20ºC or thereabouts.
12. Light rain. You might think light rain would be nice but it really isn’t. You still get soaked and in the summer there’s no real way to dress for it. And it still feels cold(ish), even in mid-July.
11. Snow. I’ve only run once in light snow and it was fun. I’m thinking a foot of snow would probably be less so.
10. Cold rain. Cold rain means cold hands and if you wear gloves they need to be waterproof. Cold rain is never fun. Plus my nipples are weirdly sensitive to the cold now and cold rain is like torturing them. Poor little nipples. 🙁
9. Hard rain. This is really just light rain but cutting to the chase. It also has the potential to wreak havoc with any non-waterproof items you may be carrying and it’s hard to see if you wear glasses. I wear glasses.
8. Extreme cold. I’ve run in sub-freezing conditions and been fine. I’m thinking Arctic tundra-type cold here.
7. Heavy wind. The resistance means you work a lot harder to achieve the same result and my cap has to be on tight enough to cut off circulation so it doesn’t fly away.
6. Hot sun. My body feels like a furnace and I’m left parched as all get-out. Dry mouth and lips are yucky. By hot I mean high 20s and low 30s. Bonus if it’s also really humid so it feels like there is also no breathable air.
5. Hard rain and heavy wind. Likeliest weather to make me wonder to myself, ‘What was I thinking?’ when running.
4. Hot sun and heavy wind. Or “What would it be like to do a run on a windy day in the Sahara?” Heat dries you out, the wind makes it harder to run and dries you out even more. Bleah. This combination is, however, very rare.
3. Hail. Getting pelted by little ice rocks is unpleasant. I’ve been caught in hail twice and did not like it either time. Hail has moved from #7 to #2 on the list as a result.
2. NEW Cyclists. I have grown to loathe anyone on a bicycle, especially since the area where I run most frequently–Burnaby Lake–forbids bicycles, but cyclists show up anyway, sometimes in packs. They tend to be either little kids who will wobble suddenly and unpredictably in front of you, or jerks who power through as fast as they can pedal, oblivious to the presence or safety of others.
And the worst weather to run in is:
1. Dogs. Still #1. See here. I’ve had a dog knock me down while running. The weather has never done this.
