Real Talk!

Yesterday, Calgary smashed an 88-year-old record, strangely for the same day. The previous 15.2 centimeters of heavy snow was edged out of the record books when a 23-centimeter dumping pounded the city. Worried Calgarians are watching their thermometers today, as the temperature is expected to rise significantly which may lead to intense flooding conditions.

Eastern Canada is reporting that their snowfall this year is more than 150-centimeters over the 30-year norm.

No kidding, they are talking about SNOW RAGE. In one incident, last month, a Quebec man pulled out a 12 gauge shot gun and threatened a snowplow operator who had pushed some snow onto his property. Cities, towns and villages throughout the country have totally blown their snow removal budgets and the cost of heating went through the roof, too.

They tell me that thefts of snow-blowing machines in Ontario and Quebec have reached epidemic proportion. Environment Canada has said New Brunswick will likely have snow, well into May.

Some area schools are considering an extension to the school year, due to the number of “snow days” where buses were cancelled. Last month a number of schools were closed because the burden of snow on their roofs had some wondering if the buildings could support the weight. People have died, unseen by passing plow trucks.

Many of the old-timers suggest that the heavy snow cover will have made for extremely thick ice that will take a long time thawing and may trick the unwary into looking safe enough to pass.

I was surprised; I didn’t think we’d ever be rid of our snow banks. Some of them had reached 10’ or more and were still looking gianormous last week… but they’re down quite a bit… and we’re into the messy, muddy, sandy sort of stuff- although we had a skiff of snow yesterday…

It’s been a rough year for maple syrup, too… not enough dramatic swings in the temperature between daytime and night- the sap didn’t run a whole lot.

I’ve met more people who are suffering from seasonal depression, this year… and since the melt started, it seems like everyone is sneezing… snow mould, I’m told…

The rivers, streams and lakes are looking pretty full. As much as we have cursed the snow this year, we have dreaded the melt… on the bright side, next year should be a piece of cake, comparatively…

that is, if you can still go by the law of averages.