"Storm of the Decade"

It has been a crazy day and a half! The Canadian Maritime Provinces was just walloped with what they were anticipating to be the worst storm in ten years. They were predicting up to 40 cm (16 inches) and winds of over 100 Km per hour (~ 62 mph). That was in New Brunswick, where we live. In our neighboring provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, they were predicting worse.

It started Tuesday evening, flurries just after 5 PM. By Wednesday morning, we had about 3 inches and it appeared to be clearing up. Maybe it missed us? They had already cancelled schools and even closed the University and colleges and unfortunately by 9 AM the wind started picking up. Around 9:30, it started snowing again. I took this picture around lunchtime, it is directly outside our door. 

This second was taken mid afternoon outside the back door. The tree is about 15 feet away.

It took three tries to get the picture, the wind kept coming up making it a white out.

So, we stayed in all day. We were surprised to get a knock on the door around lunchtime, Purolator had a parcel for Salean! I used her Huggies points to help get a set of stacking cups from Discovery Toys. As the day wore on, we heard news of more and more closing. The malls and most stores shut down by 2 PM. The buses were hauled off at 4 PM. Snowplows and tow trucks that were not clearing for emergencies were off by 7 PM. Cars were being abandoned everywhere due to drifts. Finally, they closed the highway between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Since the bridge and ferry to PEI had been shut down earlier in the day, for the first time ever, all three provinces were on their own.

Every couple of hours, Mr Man had to go out for a precious smoke, each time he had to shovel 2 feet of snow from in front of the door. This is the pile he had created by about 10 PM, a few hours after the wind had shifted and stopped blowing us in. Please disregard the reflection of my messy kitchen. 

Here are a couple more I took at the same time, just before heading to bed. 

The wind howled all night but it had stopped snowing. Thursday dawned bright and cold. No school again today! The University and both colleges cancelled morning classes. 

Here are some pictures I took this morning while Mr Man started clearing. 

He had to get in the passenger side of the truck because it was drifted up the driver's side.

The drift that made up the end of the driveway. He estimates it is about 4 feet deep. 

There are two garbage cans here, believe it or not. One is completely buried.

The old snow pile from previous storms. It is probably about 6 feet high, as it was definitely over my head!

We are not getting out the back door any time soon.

Coffee was needed, so Big Red was dug out and then he blasted through the drift. He said the roads were not that bad. 

The below picture was after all the snow from around the house was pushed to the centre of the driveway so the snow plow could take it away. 

And they had to bring in he big guns: an excavator. The last time we had this much snow (in February) the regular plow got stuck. They were taking no chances this time! 

So, that is the big storm of the decade, at least in our little part of Quispamsis, New Brunswick. And now they are calling for oodles of rain the next three days...so hopefully the snow will float away and we will finally get a proper Spring!

Hope everyone is having a good week!!

~Natasha.