How many inches did YOU get last night?

[Nige F]

We very occasionally get blizzards, but in general anything more than an inch of snow, and the country grinds to a halt. I don't know anyone who has a snow blower.

When I was a kid, I remember one blizzard we got where we couldn't get out of our house because the snow prevented us from opening the doors. When we did get out, my two sisters and I were playing by walking up the snow drift onto the roof of our house and then jumping off into the snow below.

But, that wasn't a typical blizzard, and all of Southern Manitoba ground to a halt before we could dig out.

Only one we got like that was winter of `63.and no Central Heating@ our house

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I've never experienced one, but trust me - even '63 was nothing compared to a Canadian winter...

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

Our winters have been getting gradually milder. When I was a kid, 40 degrees below was considered "Very cold", but I've personally experienced -52 below and in the more northerly latitudes (like Churchill, Manitoba), -60 wasn't at all uncommon.

Within the past half dozen years we haven't seen those kinds of temperatures any more. Now, about the coldest days we typically get in a Winnipeg winter is -30 deg. F. with the temperature between 0 and -20 deg. F. most of the time. This winter has been really quite mild compared to what we've gotten in the past.

There's an awful lot of commotion here in Canada about the weather changing. Until now, Canada basically claimed all of the islands between the mainland and the North Pole through default as no one else was interested in them. They were barren rocks of no economic or commercial interest, and the only continuously inhabited settlement up there is the Alert radar station that was built during the Cold War to watch for Soviet missles coming toward us.

Now, with the ice melting up there, then a sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through those islands may soon be open enough of the year to be of commercial interest.

Also, as the ice melts and more of the land is exposed, then drilling and mining operations become more feasible during the warmer months.

And, as a result, Denmark is starting to make claims that it owns Hans Island (which is a tiny rock between the northern tips of Baffin Island and Greenland. Also, US and Russian nuclear submarines have appeared in our territorial waters without Canadian permission to be there.

So, Canada may have to defend it's claim to those islands and the water between them in the future against the other countries that border that area, including the US (cuz it owns Alasks), Russia and Denmark.

 

[gasmarkone]

Well Nestor, if you need some help on the defence front we could help. If we see 'em coming, will post here!!
Its so snowy her I nearly slipped over this morning.

Mark

Milk, no sugar ta.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Our winters have been getting gradually milder. When I was a kid, 40 degrees below was considered "Very cold", but I've personally experienced -52 below and in the more northerly latitudes (like Churchill, Manitoba), -60 wasn't at all uncommon.

Within the past half dozen years we haven't seen those kinds of temperatures any more. Now, about the coldest days we typically get in a Winnipeg winter is -30 deg. F. with the temperature between 0 and -20 deg. F. most of the time. This winter has been really quite mild compared to what we've gotten in the past.

The coldest temperature ever recorded anywhere in the UK was -27°C, -17°F.

Generally, below -10°C/+14°F would be regarded as exceptionally cold.

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

Minus 17 deg. F is fairly cold.

If you're not properly dressed for that kind of weather, then it will feel awfully cold. Especially with a wind.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Indeed - but that figure is the once-every-hundred-years-in-the-Scottish-mountains record.

There are large parts of the UK where in an average winter it is unusual for the temperature to remain below freezing all day for one day, let alone extended periods.

Good old Gulf Stream, I say - if that ever stops we'll realise we're at the same latitude as Hudson's Bay....

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

There are large parts of the UK where in an average winter it is unusual for the temperature to remain below freezing all day for one day, let alone extended periods.

Wow. Wish I lived there. In the winter of 1996/1997 we fell short of setting a new local record for the longest cold spell by only a day or two. Officially a "cold spell" is where the temperature doesn't go above 20 degrees below F. If I remember right, the record was 50 or 51 days, and we endured 49 or 50 days, or something like that. That's like a full 7 weeks of cold, cold, cold. I even saw one guy wearing a tee shirt that said "I survived the winter of 1996/1997", so it had gotten to the point where there was some black humour over it.

Then, within a few months of that disastrous winter, in April of 1997, there was a huge blizzard that shut everything down. This was a "Colorado Clipper" because it's a powerful storm that swings in a clockwise arc from the Gulf of Mexico up through Colorado rather than passing over the Rocky Mountains and dumping it's rain on the windward side of the mountains. This was a huge storm that covered all of southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, North and South Dakota and eastern Montana. And, it happened at the worst possible time. In April, all the snow from the winter had just recently melted, so the ground was saturated with water. And, of course, coming in April as it did, as soon as the blizzard was over, all the snow started to melt, and rapidly! We ended up with the worst flooding in history that spring. Luckily, the City of Winnipeg was saved because we had built a huge ditch (called The Winnipeg Flooday) to divert water around the city after the last major flood we had in 1952. They say the flood of 1997 was a "500 year flood" because a flood of that magnitude is expected to occur only once every 500 years.

That blizzard in April of 1997 was the worst that I remember. It took a long time to clear all the streets so traffic could start moving again, and during that time the radio stations were asking people with snowmobiles to volunteer to do transport duty. Doctors, nurses and patients had to get to and from the hospitals, snow plow drivers had to get to and from work, repairmen had to get to homes where there was no heat, electricity or water for whatever reason, and other high priority stuff like that. But, it's at times like that the everyone pulls together instead of apart. People with snowblowers were helping dig out people without and stuff like that. That was the only time I ever saw snowmobiles riding up and down the streets here. Normally, that would be illegal.

 

[2scoops0406]

That's one of the odd things about the UK, we like to complain about the weather, but in reality, we don't really get any. Temperatures vary from roughly 0 to 30 (C) (32 - 80F) but nothing really extreme. The Gulf stream acts as a massive buffer, if that fails, then we are in very deep do do.

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

" if that fails, then we are in very deep do do."

If it ever did fail, and I was a homeowner in the UK, I'd apply styrofoam insulation to the OUTSIDE of my house and install vinyl or metal siding over that.

That would be the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to insulate a house well and in a hurry.

 

[hairyjon]

Our winters have been getting gradually milder. When I was a kid, 40 degrees below was considered "Very cold", but I've personally experienced -52 below and in the more northerly latitudes (like Churchill, Manitoba), -60 wasn't at all uncommon.

Within the past half dozen years we haven't seen those kinds of temperatures any more. Now, about the coldest days we typically get in a Winnipeg winter is -30 deg. F. with the temperature between 0 and -20 deg. F. most of the time. This winter has been really quite mild compared to what we've gotten in the past.

The coldest temperature ever recorded anywhere in the UK was -27°C, -17°F.

Generally, below -10°C/+14°F would be regarded as exceptionally cold.

Ban- Don't give the railway people any more excuses, what with 'the wrong sort of leaves' next it will be 'the wrong sort of ice'... Hairyjon

 

[Moz]

I learnt a load there

Thankyou

cheers

..

these The Winnipeg Flooday...better than the levvy ???..Im sure : )

if our gulf slystream dies which it is ... Fact ...
UK colder ... burn our 20 notes to keep warm ..lol

 

[Brightness]

OMG I couldn't cope with Winters that severe

The worst one I recall was in 1990 when we were living in a 'remote-ish' village, 2 miles from local shop (that was frequently referred to as the Russian supermarket because they had nothing on the shelves) & 6 miles from the nearest town.

My youngest son was due & I had to go to hospital as it was a 'high risk' pregnancy . We woke up one morning to find that there was 3ft of snow up against the front door and around 2ft outside. All the electric went off and we lived off toast and beans done on the open fire - only heat source we had. The 3 of us (me hubby and eldest son) all slept in the lounge in front of the fire it was that cold.

My GP phoned every day to see if I was OK and said that if I dared to go into labour then they would scramble the air ambulance immediately LMAO. Eldest son was nearly five and desperate for his new baby to arrive just so's he 'could have a ride in the helicopter' LMFAO

Glad we've not had a Winter that bad since but we have had extemely bad flooding & I was stuck at my mates house in the town for 2 days - hubs and kids were cut off but dry - I think ours was the only house that didn't get flooded We were soooooooooooooo lucky. Some of my neighbours lost loads of stuff & of course had all the smelly stuff in the house too

 

[Nestor_Kelebay]

Moz:

That was a typo. It should have been Floodway, not Flooday.

At the time of it's completion in 1968, the Winnipeg Floodway was the 2nd largest earth moving project in the world, second only to the Panama Canal. However, it should be mentioned that the hardships associated with building the Panama Canal (mosquitos spreading malaria, torrential rain, remote location) made the Winnipeg Floodway look easy in comparison.

Winnipeg was founded at the junction of the Red River and the Assiniboine River, and the City has grown around the cite of it's founding so that both rivers flow through the heart of the City. Unfortunately, both rivers are prone to flooding.

The Winnipeg Floodway consists of a 48 kilometer long ditch which acts as "another river" which can be used during flood conditions to carry water around the city (rather than through it), thereby reducing the water level in the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

This web page shows a photo of the Floodway carrying water around the City during flood conditions and discharging it back into the Red River north of Winnipeg (where it subsequently flows into Lake Winnipeg and eventually on to Hudson's Bay):

http://www.gov.mb.ca/iedm/mrd/geo/pflood/photo2.html

Even this UK web site mentions the Winnipeg Floodway in it's web page on Winnipeg.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0018409.html

The Children's Book "Winnie the Pooh" was written by Alan Alexander Milne about his son, Christopher's stuffed toy bear named Winnie. The toy bear was named after a real bear named "Winnie" at the London Zoo, who his son, Christopher was very fond of. The real bear Winnie was purchased by a Canadian soldier for $20 on his way to France during World War 1, who named it after his home town of Winnipeg. The real bear Winnie became the mascot of a Canadian Regiment named the Fort Garry Horse, and travelled throughout France with his regiment. At the end of the War, the officers of the regiment decided to donate Winnie to the London Zoo, where he became quite an attraction. Christopher Milne was very fond of the bear, and named his stuffed toy bear Winnie after the real bear. Christopher's father, then wrote the children's books "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House on Pooh Corner" which became best sellers in both the UK and North America.
Consequently, there is a long and winding connection between Winnipeg, Manitoba and the London Zoo.

http://www.answers.com/topic/winnie-the-pooh-1

 

[hairyjon]

Moz:

That was a typo. It should have been Floodway, not Flooday.

At the time of it's completion in 1968, the Winnipeg Floodway was the 2nd largest earth moving project in the world, second only to the Panama Canal. However, it should be mentioned that the hardships associated with building the Panama Canal (mosquitos spreading malaria, torrential rain, remote location) made the Winnipeg Floodway look easy in comparison.

Winnipeg was founded at the junction of the Red River and the Assiniboine River, and the City has grown around the cite of it's founding so that both rivers flow through the heart of the City. Unfortunately, both rivers are prone to flooding.

The Winnipeg Floodway consists of a 48 kilometer long ditch which acts as "another river" which can be used during flood conditions to carry water around the city (rather than through it), thereby reducing the water level in the Red and Assiniboine rivers.

This web page shows a photo of the Floodway carrying water around the City during flood conditions and discharging it back into the Red River north of Winnipeg (where it subsequently flows into Lake Winnipeg and eventually on to Hudson's Bay):

http://www.gov.mb.ca/iedm/mrd/geo/pflood/photo2.html

Even this UK web site mentions the Winnipeg Floodway in it's web page on Winnipeg.

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0018409.html

The Children's Book "Winnie the Pooh" was written by Alan Alexander Milne about his son, Christopher's stuffed toy bear named Winnie. The toy bear was named after a real bear named "Winnie" at the London Zoo, who his son, Christopher was very fond of. The real bear Winnie was purchased by a Canadian soldier for $20 on his way to France during World War 1, who named it after his home town of Winnipeg. The real bear Winnie became the mascot of a Canadian Regiment named the Fort Garry Horse, and travelled throughout France with his regiment. At the end of the War, the officers of the regiment decided to donate Winnie to the London Zoo, where he became quite an attraction. Christopher Milne was very fond of the bear, and named his stuffed toy bear Winnie after the real bear. Christopher's father, then wrote the children's books "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House on Pooh Corner" which became best sellers in both the UK and North America.
Consequently, there is a long and winding connection between Winnipeg, Manitoba and the London Zoo.

http://www.answers.com/topic/winnie-the-pooh-1[/QUOTE] Nestor Kelbay. I was given a hardback book of Winnie the Pooh when I was 4 years old in 1956. I still have it now although it its now very tatty it is still in one piece and I still get immense enjoyment reading it. I shall now look on 'the Bear of very little brain' with even more respect than ever! Sadly stories like these are very few and far apart. But then I'm biased! Thanks for the information.
Isn't it funny,
How Bears like hunny! Hairyjon