The college closed at 5 p.m. tonight because of the snow (it was snowing heavily prior to the announcement).
We got a bunch of new snow today, the fourth day in a row that it’s snowed. It’s gotten so silly I just kind of shrug now.
And hope for a snow day tomorrow.
Here is the current 10-day weather forecast in convenient screenshot format:
Do you know what’s wrong with this picture? Of course you do.
Damn snow.
If this forecast was accurate, and thankfully it will probably be at least a little wrong, we could be getting up to 35 cm of new snow. This would push back being able to jog outdoors to sometime in 2018.
We should be wearing t-shirts in two weeks, not parkas. Well, maybe not t-shirts but we have had trees flowering by mid-February. That seems…unlikely this year.
Damn snow.
There is still a wacky amount of snow on the ground nearly a month after the first snowfall this winter (which technically began before it was actually winter). This means running outside is still not feasible unless I want to constantly fall down, which I do not.
It rained today and through some miracle of nature, the rain did not turn into snow, so the existing snow has been denuded somewhat. It will take a lot more of this for it to finally go away.
The good news is there is no snow in the forecast and if the forecast is at all accurate we should see temperatures climbing to 6 or 7ºC in a week or so, which will be absolutely balmy compared to the last 30 days. Mix that in with some more rain and my prediction is I’ll be able to run outside again before the end of the month, meaning I might still be able to run every month this year (outdoors).
In the meantime, I plan on substituting treadmill or elliptical workouts at the Canada Games Pool in the meantime, as I’ve got to get my slovenly fatty self back into shape even if the outside is transforming into New Arctic.
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.
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.)
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:
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Basically I’m ready for summer.
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*.
* lie
Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the first day of summer.
I rate it 7/10.
Good:
Less good:
P.S. I promise to swear off weather-related posts for at least a week. That’s seven days.
Unless we have a hurricane.