Nasty hail storm in Regina

After weeks with no precipitation of consequence, we finally experienced a long-brewing summer storm in Regina.  After a few minutes of rain the hail began - and then really came down.


 

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We weren't quite a golf balls, but these marble size hail stones were still capable of doing damage.  By the end of brief hail shower our garden had really been hit hard.  Hopefully we'll be able to recover - though I'm sure many of the plants will be set back by at least a few weeks.

Then, almost as quickly as it all began, it stopped, reverted to rain, and then became sunny.  The whole interlude was maybe only 15 minutes.

Very weird.

Definitely a storm

I rather prematurely doubted the severity of today's forecast storm.

Soon after my post things really began to pick up.



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Of course, just as things were picking up we had to head out for my optometry appointment (and a trip to the local Asian grocery store).

Not only was the blowing snow really quite good at reducing visibility, but the cold temperatures (almost -40 with the windchill) and high humidity (about 80%) were causing cars' windows to frost up in a most impressive fashion.  I've never experienced anything quite like it.

Normally, when it's this cold the major upside is low humidity (including a low risk of snow).  Somehow, we've managed to get everything today.



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Fortunately, the snowing is supposed to stop in a few hours.  I guess once it does I will have to head out and take care of some shovelling.  Yum!

Cameron - 11
Neil - 0

Big bad snow storm?

So, for the first time this winter in Regina we've been warned that a snow storm may be on our way.  Of course, I thought it was supposed to start hours ago and presently it's just begun to snow lightly - so I'm not altogether what this says about the impact of the forecast storm.  Is it just a little late?

Of course, one of the things I find funny about this storm is that it is supposed to bring with it 10-15 cm of snow.  In other parts of the country this quantity of snow would hardly be worth noticing - particularly during a winter when the eastern portion of the continent has been hit repeatedly with more substantial blasts.

To be a little fairer to this region, even a relatively small amount of snow and wind can make driving, particularly highway driving, quite dangerous.  As there is almost nothing to stop snow from blowing once clear streets and highways can instantly, or so it seems, have snow patches that might impact the trajectory of one's vehicle.  Even days after a snowfall light and fluffy snow can be blown around in ways that are problematic for drivers.

What makes this storm particularly notable, though, is that it is supposed to be taking place while it is relatively cold (-21ish and with a windchill of -37ish).  Normally when it is this cold we don't get all that much snow - and we certainly don't have snowstorms in these conditions.

I guess we will just have to wait and see if the storm does materialize.

Cameron - 9
Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 613

-Much to my surprise, we've had a few grey days in the past few weeks.  Maybe even more troubling, these grey days (as well as some of the non-grey days) have been rather humid (though not quite New York/Ottawa humid).  In any event, the temperatures have felt very summery (though that may just be the humidity speaking (as it's supposedly only 19 today and it feels borderline miserable).

-Last Friday night we experienced one of the most impressive lightning shows I've seen in my life.



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For several hours there were near constant lightning strikes lighting the sky.  For the first while there wasn't even any rain or wind where we were.  If you watch the above video you should be able to hear when the rain and wind really started.  It eventually became much more intense and several nearby areas are still cleaning up from the damage caused by the storm.

-Apparently I haven't been very good at keeping this up to date recently.  Not entirely sure what's up with that but it certainly my plan to improve.

-I knew I didn't sleep well last night, but I was still surprised when all of us (Jeannette, the cats, and I) fell asleep in the living room for three hours (well, Pierre and I fell asleep for three hours - the ladies were still sleeping when we left).  Now that I've had that rather long nap I'm feeling much more refreshed.

-I guess now that I'm so refreshed I should consider tackling a laundry folding project I've been putting off for some time?

Power outages and thunderstorms

For the past few days Regina has been hit with a number of thunderstorms and power outages.

The storms, though one of them did come with pea sized hail, haven't been particularly bad or lead to much damage.  Of course, the fact that they seem to be happening about once a day does mean that they're still quite annoying.

The power outages also seem to be equally frequent.  Yesterday out part of town was hit with a strange mild-weather power outage that lasted a few hours.  This morning much of the eastern portion of the city was also hit with a several hour power outage (and I think that all started before either of this morning's two thundershowers).



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And it wouldn't really be a storm if I didn't at least try to catch some of it on time-lapse (and this time I was successful in capturing the entire first round).

In case you're curious, when I moved to the prairies I didn't expect to experience quite as many rain related weather events, nor as many power outages.

A tale of two storms

It seems that yesterday two of Canada's most important cities, Regina and St. John's, were hit with crippling snow storms.  Of course, these storms were quite different.

In St. John's/much of Newfoundland a very substantial snowfall was accompanied by strong winds and sizeable drifts.  Not surprisingly, many people throughout the province lost power - and there are apparently many who are still without power.

Of course, maybe the worst aspect of the St. John's storm (aside from the mass power outage and crippling snowfall) is the fact that for the past 24 hours the temperature hasn't been below freezing.  So all of this freshly fallen snow is in the process of melting or at least turning into slush.  Yum (especially if the forecast about lower temperatures later in the week comes to pass).

Not surprisingly, the way things played out in Regina has been a little different.

First of all, we had less snow and less wind (so our drifting wasn't nearly as bad).  On the other hand, I suspect we've had a touch less ploughing of side streets and we had side streets that already had inches of ice build-up so many side streets are almost impassable and will likely remain in a similar condition for at least the next few days.  Oh, and instead of the temperatures dropping to something that might allow melting of the snow the temperatures have dropped substantially.  It seems that a windchill of -29 is as high as it has been in the past 24 hours (when I was walking around in this weather it seemed cold but in retrospect I timed my walk during the warmest part of the day).

Anyway, while if I had to choose one of these two storms I'd likely choose the Regina storm it will, nonetheless, likely be with us a little longer than the already melting snowfall that recently befell St. John's.

Storm? - 5

Well, it seems that after I went to sleep last night we did get some snow (it came after a nice base layer of freezing rain).  The temperature also dropped to -7 overnight.  As I haven't been outside I don't know exactly how bad it is, but I have to imagine that it is at least a little slippery and icy.

I think it is safe to say that this wasn't a particularly bad storm here and that we didn't get anywhere close to the 30 cm that had been forecast at one point.

Cameron: 23
Neil: 0

Storm? - 4

Well, though I saw some snow a while ago it seems to have stopped, or at least come close to stopping.

I find it funny that the conditions seem to have improved as the storm system seems to have more definitively moved into the region.

I guess I am curious to see how things play out as the night progresses.

Cameron: 21
Neil: 0

Storm? - 3

When I first started writing this post I thought that it hadn't started snowing.  Because I am a dedicated fact-checker I thought that I should take a look outside before making such a bold claim.

Much to my surprise, when I looked outside I learned that it has started snowing.  Of course because of the warm weather we've had all day the snow is quite wet and has not really started to accumulate.

At one point I read that we could be in for as much as 30 cm of snow.  I really hope we don't get 30 cm of this stuff.  Hell, even 5 cm of this stuff would be unpleasant.

And for those of you who are curious, I have received on-the-ground reports from Sackville that it is also showing there.  Even though their snow started much earlier in the day I am not sure if they are expected to get as much as us.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Cameron: 19
Neil: 0

Storm? - 2

Well, it has been a few hours since my last post and there are still no signs of snow.  On the other hand, we have had plenty of rain in the past few hours.  Given that the temperature is several degrees above freezing it seems reasonable to think that the rain, rather than snow, might continue for at least another few hours.  Furthermore, the latest warning from Environment Canada seems to suggest that rain, rather than snow, is what we should expect (though we might be on the snow/rain border).

That being said, there is still definitely a big weather system just off the coast.

Cameron: 16

Neil: 0

Storm? - 1

So word on the street is that we are in for some kind of storm today.  So far today kind of just looks like a pretty regular grey winter's day, maybe even a little on the warm side.

Of course, the satellite imagery really does make it look as though there is the possibility that we might actually get close to the 30 cm that we are forecast to get.

That really does look as though it could be nasty (thought it could miss us if we're lucky).  I guess this is further motivation to take care of our on-the-road-again errands earlier in the day than we had originally planned.  Hopefully we can be off the road by the time this thing hits.

Cameron: 14

Neil: 0

So it's going to be nice tomorrow?

Over the past few days I have heard reports about a 'weather bomb' that may be approaching the region. Apparently much of the province is for some heavy rain and wind.

When I went to the Environment Canada site to find the local forecast and warnings I was surprised to see that they didn't appear to have any for the region.

I then decided to check the general warnings page to see if they might have been listed there but not cross-posted to the local page. While there I saw that there are, in fact, warnings for much of the province, but we seem to live in one of the three counties without a weather warning.

I presume this means tomorrow won't be anything special?

This is getting crazy

It has now been snowing non-stop for about twelve hours. It seems that we must be getting close to 30 cm, if we haven't already passed it. Of course, my 'reference point' hasn't been of any use for the past several hours. (And we have moved from a 'snowfall warning' to a 'winter storm warning.')

What has been amazing about this storm is that it has lived up to, if not exceeded, its hype. The other aspect of this that I find amazing is that given the lead time there hasn't been much ploughing or salting. And I guess I also find it amazing that so many places didn't close today. Didn't they see how much it was snowing?

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 4

It turns out that the reading Jeannette and I planned on attending was not adversely effected by the stormy weather we were experiencing this afternoon. Amazingly enough, our drive from Wolfville to Windsor wasn't even much slower than expected as by the time we left most of the rain had stopped. (The reading/performance was great. I am hoping to see the performer doing a slightly different performance at the end of the week.)

When we went out to the car we did discover that we didn't manage to escape the storm unscathed. One of the rose bushes adjacent to our driveway was blown over into our driveway. And as the plant doesn't seem to have become uprooted I am not exactly sure what we are supposed to do with it. I am kind of hoping that once the wind dies down and the plant has a chance to recuperate that it will just right itself. Maybe this is overly wishful thinking.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 3

Much to my surprise, it seems that at least one of the closest power outages has been resolved. I am taking this to be good news in a number of ways. Firstly, the conditions are not so bad as to prevent power crews from working. Secondly, power crews are actively working to repair damage. Thirdly, and this may be a little presumptuous on my part, but I take this to mean that they don't think that things are going to get worse in this area.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 2

The power outages seem to be spreading across the provinces quickly. The effect has likely been intensified by the fact that for some period of time the NS Power Live Outage map was not adding new outages as they were occurring. As far as I know outages are now being added as they occur.

The other big development (to go along with the return to real-time of the Live Outage map) is that our region now has both a rain and a wind warning. A little while ago we just had a rain warning (even though it was pretty windy).

Hopefully the event that Jeannette and I are hoping to attend later this afternoon won't be adversely effected by the weather. As it is, I know of at least one local event that has been cancelled because of the weather.

The 'Unseasonable' Storm - 1

Well, it seems that we are actually in the midst of a storm, though not to the extent that some parts of the New England states are (I have seen photos of substantial snowfalls). At the moment all we have to complain about are high winds and rain.

Of course, now that this has been going on for the past few hours we are starting to see power outages in the province. And one of the three power outages is just a short ways away from us. Fun. At least we have gathered our 'emergency supplies' and are ready, at least as ready as we can be, for a possible power outage.

It seems that Neil and a few of the matheletes may have been more seriously impacted by the storm in that at least one of their flights was cancelled on their way back from a conference in the US. I still don't know the extent of their delays, though I imagine that today's developments haven't made things better.

I guess I should get back to storm watching (i.e. work).

Slowly ramping up

It seems as though after something of a slow start the storm is finally starting to ramp up a little. The rain is no longer as intermittent or as inclined to fall straight (some is now being blown sideways onto our windows). Of course, even with this ramp up we are still a long ways away from anything approaching a serious storm, but I guess we are at least heading in the right direction.

Since my last update Jeannette and I gathered up a few emergency supplies and placed them on the kitchen table. Amazingly, I was able to rustle up about four flashlights, a dozen or so tea lights, batteries, and a hand crank operated flashlight/radio combo. Hopefully we won't need to use any of these things.

Oh, and we have also mentally prepared ourselves in case we need to heat up canned foods with candles. I have even been thinking about I could rig things up efficiently.

I really hope we don't have to go without power tonight. That would be a real bummer. And as I have to drive in to Halifax tomorrow I really hope that the roads aren't in particularly rough condition tomorrow.

Fortunately, at least for me, it looks as though the storm system may be veering towards Newfoundland.

I guess we will just have to wait to see if this is actually what is going to happen or if we will be hit with the full force of this system.

Transparent hype or watery reality?

It seems that a heavy rainfall is being forecast for much of Nova Scotia and adjacent regions. I have also seen that at least two municipalities (Halifax and Wolfville) have go so far as to warn their residents to take precautions in anticipation of the rainfall.

I really hope I don't need to tap into my non-existant storm back-up kit. That would be a real bummer.

Of course given the weather forecasting track record in this part of the world one might reasonably think that this weather warning might be a little over blown.

I guess I will have to wait and see if the predicted heavy rainfalls do arrive this afternoon or if this was all for nought.

(My secret inside suspicion, based on the satellite imagery) is that there may be something to these warnings, though I will have to wait to see bad it will actually be.)

This doesn't look good

Wow, the latest version of the storm Maria projection from the Canadian Hurricane Centre really doesn't look good for Newfoundland, particularly the Avalon peninsula.

Similarly, the satellite imagery of this storm system makes things look rather scary.

To my untrained eye the satellite imagery makes it look as though Nova Scotia will be getting more of this than the Canadian Hurricane Centre suggests (and Newfoundland less). Of course, I am not sure how much one should depend on my assessment of the situation.

Whatever happens I suspect that parts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia will at least experience heavy rains and winds. Yum.