Today was the coldest day we've had in Manitoba
in the last 2 years.
Wind chills were at -42 C overnight.
There was no outside recess for the kids all day because the temperature with
the wind chill didn't get above -33 C.
I don't understand wind chills when there's hardly any wind.
I guess there doesn't have to be much wind to make it that cold
when it's already -30 C.
(On a side note - I just saw on the news that Toronto has issued
an "extreme cold" bulletin for tomorrow.
-11 C with wind chills feeling like -20 C.
Those poor people.)
Last week we had freezing rain.
This is something else I don't understand.
Why does it sometimes snow when it's hovering around 0 degrees
and why does it sometimes rain?
It is perplexing.
Last weekend, when Newfoundland was having its storm,
we were having one too.
Its scope and magnitude wasn't quite the same as the one out east
but it was a storm nonetheless.
This is now my third winter on the prairies
and I'm beginning to understand the prairie storm.
One thing I've learned is that you DO NOT venture out
when there is a storm brewing.
They called this one a blizzard - and it was.
The wind and the position of our house often aligns just right
to make a massive drift in front of our garage.
Last weekend was no exception.
I heard a machine working outside after the storm had stopped.
It was our neighbour from across the way.
He was clearing driveways on our street.
Because it meant being able to rip around a bit longer on his quad
Miguel was more than happy to clean up our driveway as well.
It took him 10 minutes.
I think we (Howard) would have been shoveling for several hours.
Miguel pushed all the snow from our driveway onto our....ah....neighbour's yard.
We tried not to think about that too much.
The deck, which had been bare the day before,
had a more creative look to it once the wind stopped howling
and the snow stopped falling.
The grader was out and about before noon on Saturday.
And right after he was finished with his part, the man who cleans up
in front of the driveways came along.
As the French would say - Voila!
This part of winter - the efficient part - I can understand
and I like it too!
