4 posts tagged “snow”

I think that this has been one of the strangest winters that I can remember. There hasn't been much snow at all and I like snow. Not shovelling snow, but I love it when it is gently falling and the way that it looks and the nice quiet that the snow brings to the world. Millions of tiny little snowflakes all combining together to blanket the ground.
A few days ago it was brutally cold with a wind-chill factor of around -35 degrees Celsius. My nice warm coat kept me warm, but the fabric became a bit stiff and crunchy-sounding.  It is on cold days that I really like having a beard to keep my face warm. The most amazing sunrise and fog sticking close to the water over Halifax Harbour greeted me as I parked the car in the lot that is on the waterfront. I walked over to the shore and saw George's Island surrounded by fog, appearing to float in the air. I don't mind the cold when things look that beautiful.
But a day later it was raining with the temperature above zero (32 in the Fahrenheit system). Much warmer. It rained and rained and rained and the basement started to flood as it does when it rains and rains and rains. The sump pump takes care of the water, but it's a pain.
Much of the snow was washed away and there was all sorts of flooding on the streets with drains filling up and not being able to handle the volume of rain and melting snow. It's not the type of winter that I used to expect, but now the climate is changing and who knows what will happen with the weather.
But late last night as I was pumping out the basement it was getting colder outside and snowflakes began to fall. That meant that the flooding would stop, but usually many hours later as the water in the ground moves into the basement. I woke up early in the morning to pump the basement out again and there was snow on the ground everywhere. Quite a surprise since there was almost none the night before.
So today it feels like winter again with a layer of snow on the ground and drifting around the house. I have to shovel out the driveway, but it's not that bad. Maybe if enough snow falls and it stays cold enough I'll be able to use my snowshoes which I didn't get to use last year.
One of my favourite things to do in the winter is to walk around and take photographs. When things are cold with snow it's an ephemeral world that can disappear overnight or in a few hours as more snow falls or the temperature increases. It's nice to be able to freeze those moments with a camera and to experience things that may only be there for a few hours.

While it wasn't completely unexpected, it was a bit surprising today to see the heavy, wet snow falling. It cause a few power outages in Halifax and resulted in it taking about 6 hours to get home. The roads were slippery and it took about 4 1/2 hours to get out of downtown, but then things were faster. Luckily as the snow melted the roads got a little better, but I was stuck in the middle of it. The good thing is that I had my iPod which is filled with music and podcasts to listen to. I was tired and hungry, but there was some chili at home that was slow cooking all day. It tasted very good. Then when I checked the mail I saw that I had a new jacket, so it was a very long day with some neat stuff at the end. The snow is very pretty on everything too.