I was just getting used to the idea of spring and keeping my eyes out for snowdrops peaking out of the mud when the Arctic Outflow rushed in and crushed the dream.
Maybe the last storm served to motivate purchases of snow tires, but it seems to me this second bout of “winter” weather hasn’t tripped Bowen up quite so badly as the first. Perhaps, though, I should hold off on that statement until we can feel truly secure in knowing we’ve made it through the icy bits of this season.
If you are snowed-in and suffering from cabin fever, maybe there’s comfort in the fact that at the very least complaining about the weather offers a nice alternative to conversations about current events. And if you dig into Canada’s history of weather anomalies, you’ll realize that even though Vancouver has had more snow this winter than any winter since 1946, this one is really not SO bad.
At least we’re not living through February in Snag, Yukon, back in 1947, when the temperature dipped to -63°C (which by the way is the coldest temperature on record in North America). At least we are not living in the Toronto of 1954, which got flushed away by a hurricane that dumped an estimated 300 million tonnes of rain on the city. Or it we could be stuck back in June-uary (2011) when the early summer here on the coast was stolen from us by a big wet cloud.
As you can see, I’ve relished the moments stolen from my work by this little jaunt through Canadian weather history, but there are always deadlines to meet. And there are always real problems to deal with, and ones that we can actually take action on. So when you’ve taken your moment to gripe and grump, get back to the job of organizing protests, writing our Member of Parliament, planning for arun for office, or simply writing a letter to the local paper.
We’re here when you need us.
