Deep cold, and then deep snow – a record-breaking winter
It’s now been over 5 weeks since I last posted. After being very pleased with how easy the winter had been up until early December, a difficult winter pretty much took over my life since my last post on December 22nd. First we had a long spell of deep cold, then it started to snow – and just kept snowing. Although I haven’t seen anyone crunch the stats (Rolf Campbell used to post great analyses on Twitter, but now only does Ottawa), I’m fairly certain that the combination of a long spell of deep cold and then heavy snow has set a new record.
To start talking about the snow, the first photo goes back to December 3. When we had this load of firewood delivered, there was little snow – probably less than 6 inches.
That same day, we got just enough snow to start hiding the firewood, which I would deal with later. As it turned out, much later – like Spring when Mother Nature melts the 3 feet of snow now covering it 🙂 The temperature the next morning at 06:25 was -1°C – beautiful!
On the morning of December 6, I posted a screenshot from our security camera on Facebook, with this comment: “Father Winter arrived gently but is in a mood now! Even Bella the Arctic Dog went outside for 3 minutes and asked to come back in and go back to bed. There had been little snow in the forecast but we’re getting buried. The skidsteer guy will be getting a call this morning.”
By December 8, it took 4-wheel-drive to get out of the driveway. The 4×4 in the Tracker died a few months ago and I haven’t found the part it needs (the Tracker is 25 years old so parts availability is getting to be a problem), so the Jeep started getting more use than usual. The temperature that morning was now -21°C, and the forecast called for -38°C in a few days.
Our home weather station and the thermometer in the Jeep both bottom out at -40°C – that happened on December 9, and the forecast temperatures kept dropping. At -36°C the next day, this is how we dressed Tucker to go out, and he wasn’t out for long. Bella doesn’t need a coat for the cold, but she does need booties by about -30.
I got out for a deep-cold photo wander (in the Jeep) on December 11 (see A Whitehorse photography outing at -41 degrees), then on the 14th the snow started to arrive in earnest. With this weather forecast screenshot, I posted “Lots of warnings this morning, with up to 25 cm/10 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow, and on the highways, “Travel will likely be hazardous due to near-zero visibility. Road closures are possible.” Our skidsteer guy got the driveway cleared yesterday while we were in town. Winter arrives in 7 days.”
On December 15, the wind-piled drift on the upper deck was 25 inches deep, and the roof overhang by the front door was massive.
On December 16 I was still able to keep up with the snow fairly well.
On December 17, I sent both my snow blowers off to get fixed. Since I got injured in 2019, everything has been falling apart because I no longer know how to maintain much of anything 🙁
On December 19, I got out for a bit – this photo was shot on the Alaska Highway along Marsh Lake, at -38°C.
December 22 – “We’ve had moose in the yard before, but never 4 moose, and never as close as 20 feet from the living room windows. Tucker and Bella were incredible about making no noise. I have many photos, shot at 1/4 of a second at ISO 12,800. And this just minutes after coming in with the dogs- that’s actually scary, as it simply never occurred to me, and the walks may be in the fenced back yard from here on.” That night at 10:00 pm, “The lowest recorded temperature for this day in Whitehorse was -42.2°C, set in 1961. It’s now -43.6°C and still dropping, with a wind chill of -51.”
On December 24, a south wind arrived, breaking the deep cold spell. On Christmas Day I brought the hot tub back up to 104 degrees. My cut-off for using it is -25C so I expected it would be back to being usable in the next day or two.
December 27 – the beauty of Yukon winter while heading into town.
That evening, the snow was accumulating rapidly, with the temperature at -22°C.
On the afternoon of December 28, we got a bit of excitement at the airport: “I thought nothing would get me out of the house on a day like this. But then a 747 landed at Whitehorse. Conditions on the highway, though, are extremely bad. The plane is a Boeing 747-4HAF(ER) freighter, registration B-3140, operated by Suparna Airlines. It normally runs NKG-ANC-ORD and back but got diverted from ANC for reasons not yet known.”
On December 30 I had to get the skidsteer guy back. The snow was deep enough that I cut out some edges to help guide him.
By the afternoon of New Year’s Day, the snow reports from Southeast Alaska – Juneau and Haines in particular – were shocking. We “only” had 31 inches on the ground.
Coming home from town on January 3 – this is Fireweed Drive, the access into Mary Lake subdivision.
We got a plow down our street early that morning. It had been 4-wheel-drive territory for the past few days.
January 5 – the snow was getting overwhelming, far beyond my ability to keep up. Normally I can keep my decks and sidewalks clear, but this year I can’t even keep a path to the hot tub clear.
January 7 – it just keeps coming. The snow is probably the most common subject people are talking about now.
January 9 – the upper deck was clear of snow in early December. Even after settling and a great deal of sublimation during the deep cold, it’s now 34 inches deep.
Chipping away at it…
By January 10 there were paths that needed to be cleared, like one to our propane tanks.
The next day, I got a much longer path to the bird/squirrel feeder dug. It’s been a tough winter for us, much more so for them.
January 13 – the heavy snow and frost is pretty, but branches and trees coming down were causing power outages, and heavy frost on the wires was causing a lot of power bumps.
January 14 – cutting this edge for the skidsteer turned into a big job.
I sure like that sound!
On January 16 I got the small (27-inch) snow blower back. I started to cut paths in the back yard for the dogs to get some exercise.
Hitting a dog bone sure brings that job to an abrupt, noisy halt. I had to break that bone up with a long punch to get going again.
It’s sure nice to be able to soak in the hot tub after some snow blower work.
Next, it was time to clear the motorhome. My brain injury is causing me a lot of problems the past few weeks, and I haven’t been able to get up on the roof to clear it yet because of balance issues.
The cloud and fog that’s been so pervasive for weeks doesn’t help anyone’s mood, so two days ago (January 22), Cathy and the dogs and I drove up to Fish Lake, above the clouds. It was so nice to see that brilliant blue sky! 🙂
And that brings us to yesterday, a day that promised sunshine and began with an aurora display at 03:00.
I headed into town just before 2pm, with the temperature at about -23°C. It was intended as a wander, but with a goal during that wander of getting some photos of the massive snow cleanup from streets all over Whitehorse that’s going on now. On the way, I stopped to get a photo of this large storage tent that has been crushed by the snow.
A friend had alerted me to the fact that snow clearing was going on in Riverdale, so that was my first destination. I began at the power dam, though, taking a walk across the Millenium Bridge.
I love steaming water, even though that’s what causes a lot of the fog and low cloud.
From there I went up Grey Mountain Road for a view over Riverdale.
The snow dump up Grey Mountain Road isn’t photographer friendly. I was hoping to get some photos of a truck being loaded or dumping, but never did.
The snow berm in the middle of Alsek Road appeared to be the best target.
Yes, that’s what I was looking for, and I got a few photos here.
Happy with that, I went up to my usual viewpoint to look over the river and city. The river has almost frozen over there now.
The final photo is of the tiny bit of open water remaining on that part of the river I was looking at from above.
It’s now 06:25 – time to go back to bed for an hour or so, then I’m going to drive down to the White Pass on what is forecast to be a spectacular day all the way.
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Wow Murray!! That’s a heck of a lot of snow to move around. I’m glad you were able to do it and aren’t paying for it too badly. Thanks for sharing!!
I’m pecking away at it slowly, but have barely put a dent in it yet.
This is so incredible! And we’re having the second mild winter in a row.
I’m pretty sure we’ve earned about 5 of those in a row now 🙂