17 Jan 2012 09:35 pm

Posted by under Dave's Thoughts

Hubris

So that last post was a little bit presumptuous, sure, but really? -32°C?

The superb weather that we had over the Christmas break is definitely over. The above average (above freezing, even) temperatures lasted for almost a month before Old Man Winter decided it was time to knock us down a notch. So on Sunday, the temperatures started to drop and just kept on going into the -30 range. That is cold. Cold enough that the brass monkeys are no longer worried about frost on the pumpkin. And it is going to stay cold, too.

But wait! Take a closer look at that forecast, kindly provided by the good folks at Environment Canada. See the 4th day out from today? Saturday? It will be back up to zero!!

When we lived in Cold Lake, AB (from 1988 to 1996), we endured a lot of cold in the winter. Lots of weeks in January or February where the daytime high temperatures would be -45°C, or worse. Environment Canada would always be looking out for us though – the five day forecast was always 25 or 30 degrees warmer than the current temperature. We used to call these Suicide Prevention Forecasts. So, if you are caught in this southern Alberta deep-freeze, cheer up! Don’t get all depressed and think that this will never end! Look – in just 4 or 5 days all will be fine, all the way back up to 0°C. And life will be beautiful.

UPDATE: 22 Jan 2012

OK, I know that you’ve been wondering, now that Saturday has come and gone, how did it all pan out? Is life beautiful? What about sunshine, or roses? Are there any roses?

Sorry, no. No roses, no 0°C. Here is what really happened:

It was better than the -30°C of a few days ago, but with the breeze it was still cold. And, this morning, I looked out the window to see that it snowed in the night and I had to shovel. I’d be depressed about it, but look at the forecast!

Things will be great in just a few days…

1 Comment »

One Response to “Hubris”

  1. Brian on 29 Jan 2012 at 8:34 pm #

    For once they were right – it did warm up and was nice for the next week. Although I think that is the first time ever they got it mostly right when it comes to warming up after a cold snap.

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