Big Snow.

 If you need snow Saskatoon is the place to be.  Since Saturday I think we've had as much snow as we saw in the winter of 2019-2020.  At least 30 centimeters has fallen, a foot.  But of course it doesn't actually just fall in a nice even depth.  Roads were a complete mess today, and as a result additional hours have been added to today's Saskatoon civic election, which was held today.  Voters will get a chance Friday to cast their ballots.  Conditions kept me away from the polls.  

Don't Sing It.

Singing "Let It Snow" in much of Canada today could get you assaulted.  Heavy snowfalls have been causing problems in much of the country, including surprising places like Vancouver and southern Vancouver Island.  The Montreal area is apparently pretty bad this morning.  Some parts of the Maritimes may see as much as 40 centimeters of snow.  So don't take the risk.

Don't Freeze.

Seriously, if you're in Saskatoon don't be one of those mindless sheep who has to be at Bestbuy for its 6 AM opening.  No piece of consumer junk is worth freezing your butt off for hours on end at minus 30.  And I'm sure someone is getting ready to get in line even as I write this, so they can be first.

Glad To Stay Home.

Barring a major emergency I have to reason to leave the house.  I'm very glad, because it's horribly cold today.  It's currently minus 29 C. with an extreme cold warning in effect because of the wind chill.  Daytime highs are supposed to stay below the minus 20 mark for the rest of the week.  This will be the coldest Christmas period in several years.  Last year's daytime high for December 25 was -14.6, balmy by comparison to today's predicted -24. 

Wind does make a difference to what a cold day feels like.  Minus 29 with a wind feels nastier than minus 29 with no wind. 

What I'm going to do tomorrow remains to be seen.  I had some plans, but this weather makes them somewhat more difficult to pull off than it would if it were warmer. 

Hail.

A hail storm just passed through.  It only lasted for maybe 5 minutes, but a lot of the hailstones were large.  The biggest were perhaps the size of grapes.  Definitely not the kind of precipitation you want to water the garden.

But the nasty weather does my nasty attitude today.

Sploosh.

Saskatoon is under a heavy rainfall warning.  At the moment it's raining quite hard.  Yet, despite the warning and the forecasts for the last few days that said we'd get heavy rain today, I saw quite a few people going about their business today without jackets.  Admittedly it did look for a while this morning that we'd only have cloudy skies, but once the rain kicked it things got very wet very quickly.  I wonder if some of them are the same people who run around with an open jacket when it's -30.

No Buyers.

I was thinking about offering some of the snow we got last night for sale, but thinking about it there would be no buyers.  Given how much snow there's been in various parts of North America the last month who would be interested?  At the very least I would be underpriced by someone else with more snow and perhaps easier access to the big markets.  Too bad.

Indoor Tent.

I just about need one right now.  It's below -30 Celsius tonight, and my bedroom tends to one of the colder rooms in the house.  I'm almost tempted to go buy an old style 60 or 100 watt bulb, which can still be found in places.  Unlike the LED bulb currently in my bedside lamp those generate some excess heat to warm things up.

Don't Sing That Song.

If you are in Saskatchewan today you better not sing "Let It Snow."  Given today's horrible weather you might get chased around by irate people upset about today's heavy snow.  And given how much it has already snowed you might have trouble getting away from them.

November Showers...

...aren't likely to bring anything good.  The rain may be light today but it's still water on the road.  Once it gets below freezing tonight the roads might be a wee bit of fun to drive.  And it's supposed to snow tomorrow.  Of course it's not as bad as some of you might be experiencing in certain parts of the US and Eastern Canada today.  No one has to worry about their roof collapsing from snow.

Lucky Me.

Several thunderstorms passed through Saskatoon last night.  One knocked out the power here in East College Park around 8 o'clock.  Fortunately it wasn't out for more than 10 minutes or so.  Other folks aren't so lucky.  Power is apparently still out as I write this in some areas, going out at 10:30 last night.

Besides having to reset several clocks I was a bit worried about the oldest computer in the house having problems, as it was on when the power went out.  Fortunately it booted up normally this morning.

White.

White is not the colour you want to see on the ground on the last day of April.  Yet here we are, the ground in Saskatoon covered with a new coating of white, of snow.  And there's still a chance of snow tomorrow.  The whole mess is very annoying and very fatiguing.

Fro the last few days we've had a woodpecker of some sort in the back yard.  That's unusual, because those kind of birds usually stay around only for a few minutes before flying off.  I really feel sorry for the poor thing given what it's like today.

Time Warp.

Waking up in Saskatoon today it may seem like you were sucked into one.  The snow had just about vanished, but now it looks like it's November with all the snow we've had in the last 18 hours.  Unfortunately that's one of the perils of April in Saskatchewan.  Even more unfortunate is that the current weather system looks set to stay around for a while, with snow or rain, or the chance of snow or rain, into at least Saturday.

Gets really annoying, doesn't it?

Bet It's Warmer Than Here.

I got a hit on the blog today from Tok, Alaska.  We think of Alaska as a cold place, but I'm guessing it's warmer in Tok at the moment than here.  Saskatoon is expected to see an overnight low of -39 degrees Celsius tonight, combined with high wind chills.  I don't think we've seen it go that low in several years. 

Wanted: One Minion.

Yep, looking for a minion.  Preferably one with a Land Rover or something along those lines.  Saskatoon got a big dump of snow today, and as a result driving tomorrow should be fun. So I'd rather someone drive me around than me doing the driving.

Salary?   Yeah, about that....

Got A Spare Ticket To Whitehorse?

I'd love to be in Whitehorse right now.  The 10 AM Saskatoon time weather observation indicates it's minus 6 Celsius up there.  Here in Saskatoon it's minus 33, with a north west wind of 22 kilometers an hour resulting in a wind chill of minus 48.  Whitehorse might as well be Miami from my perspective.

Respite.

It seems we're finally going to get a break from the nasty temperatures...



...Sunday, when it's supposed to reach minus 8.  Until then, enjoy things like the high wind chills we currently have a warning from Environment Canada for.

Take It Easy, Saskatoon.

That unfamiliar white stuff is called snow.  It makes things slippery.  Please don't drive in your usual maniac manner or you'll be slamming into everyone in sight.

Annie Understands.

With today's forecast calling for yet more rain we don't need  I figured I'd post another approrpriate YouTube vid, in this case an '80s classic. 

Gimme Some Heat!

As you can see from the Saskatoon forecast it's gonna be cold this week. So send me your excess heat. Surely you have some lying around you aren't using.