Sunday, February 26, 2006

Odd weekend...

I know there are people back in Newfoundland who curse on the Weather Office and think that since it moved to Halifax they can't predict anything worth a damn. I mean, St. John's got hit with about 72 cm of snow on the weekend. Don't know if they were calling for that much, but I kind of doubt it.

Up here, it's just plain weird. They call for a blizzard and nothing happens. The last two times they've said "Look out! Big Goddamn blizzard heading your way!" we've gotten nada. Nothing. Zip.

The scary thing is, you had some Inuk they knew this was going to happen. Since last Wednesday the Environment Canada site has been predicting the Wrath of God coming up our way. It was going to hit on Friday and last until Monday or Tuesday. They had satellite photos of it and everything. Two big low pressure systems coming our way.

On Friday afternoon a line squall or something blew through, scared everyone and they started closing the city early. Everyone made a bolt to the local stores to stock up for this big blizzard.

And yet, some of the Inuk at Cathy's school went, "No, we think this one is going to go over us. It just feels like it will."

And lo and behold, nothing happened on Friday. Nor did anything happen on Saturday. And here we are Sunday evening, and now something might be brewing. Environment Canada is saying it will, but given their track record at this point, I wouldn't hold my breathe.

There are two things that are for sure this weekend: First, it is bizarrely warm. I mean freakishly warm. The average high temperature for today is -22. It is currently 0. It will be 0 tomorrow and, if you believe the forecasters, +9 on Tuesday.

People looking they've been hit with a hammer, trying to figure this out. I put the fear of god Simon Lono before he came up here, telling him how cold it was. Thus far, I look like a massive liar.

Secondly, there is definitely something in the air. Internet access has been slow all weekend (remember, it still comes in via satellite) and even TV signals have been wonky (losing CBC during the Olympics is never a good thing in my household.) By the way, that's why I haven't posted more on the blog this weekend. It's been too frustrating.

I'm probably just spoiled. Newfoundland weather throws you something new every five minutes some days. Before the weirdness on Friday, it had been at least two weeks of the temperature ranging between -23 to -29 with it either being sunny or with some cloud. I'm not saying weather predictability is good; but after 35 years in Newfoundland, it is a pleasant change of pace.

Currently Playing
Receiver - Sean Panting

1 comment:

Brian said...

Strange things happening with my Satellite receiver here in Labrador too. For a time there was losing some transponders while others were at almost 100% Seems to have fixed itself for now. Weather very unpredictable too, -22 or so last Tuesday, up to +1.3 as I write. About five ski doos have been lost through the ice this year, some out on sea ice, very unusual. Thankfully no lose of life.

FYI, in Labrador Inuk is singular, with Inuit being plural.