Between - 30 and -40: Frozen rims of glasses burn cheekbones; midnight blue sky with squashed melon moon; old and young men, women, children, faces hidden by capuchons,or hats with the ear flap, the flaps down. Salt, traffic slush... even that frozen. Buses dutifully run. On Les Plaines, sunlight on snow, wind slicing across my face. It is so exhilerating. Yet, we may be a softer race of people than our ancestors. Coureurs du bois running through the snow, the characters in Maria Chapdelaine. Indians, trappers, settlers.
Up to 7 c, a big thaw, after freezing rain and normal light rain, the snow seeps into the plains. Wells have opened around trees. Paths are brown. Yesterday les troittoirs were icy. First time I slipped the crampons over my boots and kept them on until I got to school. Then big winds, over 50 kph sustained, and frequent gusts to over 100. Wonderful wild sound, then snow, a skiff of snow. Enough to frost brown surfaces, frozen slick now, since the thaw.
The man who reports the weather on CBC Quebec said that in his 30 year career, January, 2013, was the first month in which there had been warnings for all kinds of extreme events, winter storms, freezing rain, high winds, heavy rain, extreme low temperatures,snow squalls...
Up to 7 c, a big thaw, after freezing rain and normal light rain, the snow seeps into the plains. Wells have opened around trees. Paths are brown. Yesterday les troittoirs were icy. First time I slipped the crampons over my boots and kept them on until I got to school. Then big winds, over 50 kph sustained, and frequent gusts to over 100. Wonderful wild sound, then snow, a skiff of snow. Enough to frost brown surfaces, frozen slick now, since the thaw.
The man who reports the weather on CBC Quebec said that in his 30 year career, January, 2013, was the first month in which there had been warnings for all kinds of extreme events, winter storms, freezing rain, high winds, heavy rain, extreme low temperatures,snow squalls...