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- Jan 27, 2008
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They said we'd get maybe 5-10cm of rain/sleet mix. They were wrong.
I live in Louisbourg, Cape Breton, right on the Atlantic coast. The ocean act as a heat sink and our weather is predictably funky as a result. When its snowing throughout most of the island it is likely raining in Louisbourg. Even just a 10 min drive inland and the changeover is very apparent.
The rain started Sunday evening,then quickly turned to freezing rain and it wasn't long before Cape Breton Island was paralyzed. The power went out at our house at 3:18am Monday. It was restored this morning at about 9:30am. There are still portions of the outlying community still in the black, as are around 500 other folks in other areas of the island.
This was quite a storm! And, where were we for this apocalyptic event? Why we were safe and warm at our friend's in Sydney, about 30 mins inland(ish), where the power never went out. Not a flicker. I spent most of my two days as a weather refugee working in my friend's wood shop, eating BBQ'd pork ribs, sippin' fine rum and watching some hockey from a warm, comfy leather chair. Life was fine.
We escaped our rapidly cooling house at noon on Monday after hearing the power company's estimate of 8:00pm for power restoration. We did some errands and stopped by a friend's. It was about that time that Mother Nature decided to kick in the afterburners. The winds picked up, and the sleet/freezing rain fell MUCH heavier.... for the next 49 straight hours!! Then, just for kicks, we got an additional 2 1/2 feet of snow on top of all that ice.
My adventure was not without folly. I readily admit to running out of gas at the height of snow fall during a quick visit to another friend's.... with my wife and 6 year old daughter in the car. The resulting 6 block stroll back to our friend's house, in the dark, actually was kind'a fun, albeit cold and personally humiliating.
We were trapped in Sydney until yesterday afternoon when we were finally able to dig out of the house and drive back home. Neighbor's had called and told us power had returned, so off we went. We returned to the house to find the power had, again, gone off. It stayed off for the rest of the night and just came on this morning.... finally.... for good. I hope.
Although we weren't smart enough to bring spare clothes and toothbrush, we did manage to bring the camera. Here's a few shots:
There were taken the morning after we arrived at our friend's in Sydney, after the initial 8-hr round of sleet/freezing rain:
This is still mostly sleet/ice pellets:
Now its fully changed over to snow:
The next morning:
The drive back home to Louisbourg where freezing rain was falling while Sydney was getting most of that snow:
The "capper" here though, is that the power went out AGAIN as I got to this point in my first posting attempt!!
Around Louisbourg this morning:
I took these yesterday afternoon:
I like the glint of sunset on the forest across the harbor.
Thanks for looking,
Peter
I live in Louisbourg, Cape Breton, right on the Atlantic coast. The ocean act as a heat sink and our weather is predictably funky as a result. When its snowing throughout most of the island it is likely raining in Louisbourg. Even just a 10 min drive inland and the changeover is very apparent.
The rain started Sunday evening,then quickly turned to freezing rain and it wasn't long before Cape Breton Island was paralyzed. The power went out at our house at 3:18am Monday. It was restored this morning at about 9:30am. There are still portions of the outlying community still in the black, as are around 500 other folks in other areas of the island.
This was quite a storm! And, where were we for this apocalyptic event? Why we were safe and warm at our friend's in Sydney, about 30 mins inland(ish), where the power never went out. Not a flicker. I spent most of my two days as a weather refugee working in my friend's wood shop, eating BBQ'd pork ribs, sippin' fine rum and watching some hockey from a warm, comfy leather chair. Life was fine.
We escaped our rapidly cooling house at noon on Monday after hearing the power company's estimate of 8:00pm for power restoration. We did some errands and stopped by a friend's. It was about that time that Mother Nature decided to kick in the afterburners. The winds picked up, and the sleet/freezing rain fell MUCH heavier.... for the next 49 straight hours!! Then, just for kicks, we got an additional 2 1/2 feet of snow on top of all that ice.
My adventure was not without folly. I readily admit to running out of gas at the height of snow fall during a quick visit to another friend's.... with my wife and 6 year old daughter in the car. The resulting 6 block stroll back to our friend's house, in the dark, actually was kind'a fun, albeit cold and personally humiliating.
We were trapped in Sydney until yesterday afternoon when we were finally able to dig out of the house and drive back home. Neighbor's had called and told us power had returned, so off we went. We returned to the house to find the power had, again, gone off. It stayed off for the rest of the night and just came on this morning.... finally.... for good. I hope.
Although we weren't smart enough to bring spare clothes and toothbrush, we did manage to bring the camera. Here's a few shots:
There were taken the morning after we arrived at our friend's in Sydney, after the initial 8-hr round of sleet/freezing rain:
This is still mostly sleet/ice pellets:
Now its fully changed over to snow:
The next morning:
The drive back home to Louisbourg where freezing rain was falling while Sydney was getting most of that snow:
The "capper" here though, is that the power went out AGAIN as I got to this point in my first posting attempt!!
Around Louisbourg this morning:
I took these yesterday afternoon:
I like the glint of sunset on the forest across the harbor.
Thanks for looking,
Peter
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