Digging out of a record-breaking snowfall
Yesterday was a busy day, and I can sure feel it in my old bones this morning. I haven’t seen official confirmation that the snowfall that ended about noon yesterday was a record, but I’m quite sure that it was. The Environment Canada weather statistics say that the record one-day snowfall was 27.2 centimeters (10.7 inches), on March 8, 1967. At 04:00 yesterday morning, 24 cm (9.5 in.) had fallen in Whitehorse, and we got a lot after that, so I expect that the total was in the 40 cm (15.7 inches) area.
I know that many people think that we get buried in snow on a regular basis, but as you can see, that’s not so. The Yukon is actually a very dry place – in the case of Whitehorse, that’s largely because we’re in the rain shadow of the coastal mountains.
When I shot this picture from the back door at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday night I was already wondering aloud on Facebook what the record was, and it continued snowing all night.
The view out the front door at 05:13 yesterday (Thursday). Time to get to work.
The plow truck looked like it had been sitting there for weeks…
…but I had just parked it at 1:00 p.m. the day before, so that’s what had fallen in just over 16 hours.
The first pass up the driveway with the truck plow. I dump the snow in the ditch across the road, which is technically contrary to bylaws, but everyone does it. When I saw the condition of Sage Place, I thought about my neighbours who have little cars – it could be days until City plows get out here.
So I made 4 passes up and down the street – the main street in Mary Lake, Fireweed, was not too bad, as it gets a fair bit of traffic. It’s always good to live on a street with a retired guy with lots of toys 🙂
The preferred snow dump on our property is down the north side by the wood pile.
By the time Cathy headed into town at 08:30, things were in pretty good shape so I got back on the computer for a while.
The truck uses an enormous amount of fuel plowing in low range 4-wheel-drive, so to get back to work at 10:30 Monty and I had to go into town for fuel. This is where the long-abandoned tracks of the White Pass & Yukon Route railway cross the Alaska Highway at Macrae.
The North 60 card lock at Macrae.
I often wish that I could make one more road trip with a semi – but not on days like this! I cringe when I recall some of the trips I made with semis and buses in weather like this over the 35 years I drove them.
With the front yard basically done, it was time to move into the back yard, which requires different equipment and much more hand work.
Big sigh* – get at ‘er, buddy!
The snowblower, a fairly new addition, does a great job of putting in trails out to the barn, to the doghouse, to the storage shed, and moving the snow accumulation from around the deck.
Lots of shovel work is needed on the deck, then it’s back to the snowblower to move those piles further away.
At about 3:30, I had had enough and quit for the day. I took this photo at 3:54, 7 minutes after sundown. That’s a pretty end to the day. I went downstairs, turned on the Spa Music channel on the TV, and cuddled up with Monty – that’s where I was when Cathy got home almost 2 hours later.
As I finish this post, the weather forecast is interesting – 0°C (32°F) tomorrow, dropping to -35 (-31°F) on Tuesday night. Note the wind chill in town right now, -29 (-20°F).
There’s still a lot of snow work to be done around the property. I just got started on the upper deck, and then I’ll get some of the snow on the roof racked off the spots where the drift are deeper then I like. But, I also have lots of finishing work to do in the basement, putting baseboards and door and window trim in the areas I’ve otherwise completed. Now, it’s time to post this and get breakfast made for Cathy so she can head out into the real world 🙂
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