First Frost

Woke up yesterday morning to the news that we would be facing our first winter storm in the evening, with 10-15cm of snow. For the first time since I got here, I saw the weather forecast flashing tiny snowflake icons. According to the news, this was rather unexpected and so people were generally not prepared.

I asked around as I went about my day at 111 Sussex, trying to find out what people would do for the first storm, and whether they were indeed caught off guard. Michele (she oversees Quality Assessment) told me sometime in the afternoon to pack up my things, bring them back and head home soon, because in all possibility, people would not be in the office the next day if the weather forecast was accurate. "We'll either come in late or not at all tomorrow... no one's prepared for winter yet. Haven't got the snow tires, the sidewalks will be slippery; it could be dangerous travelling... and don't bother calling for a cab. You could be waiting up to 2 hours for one. Try not to go out in bad weather, eh?"

I began wondering if I should go to the grocery store and buy more food to stock up, and laughed as I thought - the uncertainty that people are feeling makes it seem like some disaster's going to happen. Anyway, I took her advice and bundled up for home, walking as quickly as I could. The winds were really getting stronger. At one point, my laptop bag almost got blown off my shoulder!

My Saunders Farm & dinner outing with Tim and the rest of the GLD team yesterday evening got canned too. About 15 minutes before we were to meet, I received a flurry of calls, saying that they'd heard forecasts that the storm was heading towards Kanata, and some people wanted to get home and avoid getting caught in the storm. Tim didn't have his snow tires either, so we couldn't have made the trip out to the Farm for the Halloween setup. Tim and I laughed as we talked about the upcoming storm. Tim said, "Welcome to Canada, Wendy! Yeah, people just get frightened for the first storm, not knowing what to expect. The first one comes, the snow doesn't stay. The second, and it goes away. The third - now that one will stay. And you know winter has truly arrived. You got your snow boots? Wear them tomorrow... or just wait for the snow to melt some before going out. ... By end November, I'm sure you'll be really happy to hop on that plane and go home. You must be wondering, how do these people live like that?!?!"

Thankfully I did have supplies at home, so I turned up the temperature in my apartment and fixed dinner. As I was in the kitchen, I saw bits of white flying quickly past the darkened kitchen window. 6.30pm - the first snowflakes! The scene got gradually foggier, and by 7pm there was nothing to see outside. The upside was that I slept well last night, nicely wrapped up under covers. For a while this morning, I'd forgotten about the storm, but when it hit me, I hopped over to my bedroom window to see what the world outside looked like and this is what I saw (see left).

*Gulp* I grabbed my camera and ran out to the living room and kitchen to snap a few more pictures for the album. Here's the before and after.













From the vantage point in my kitchen, I could see how people had traced out paths across the snow - their footprints like black dots on the otherwise bleached ground. The ledge on my balcony also looked like someone had sprinkled lots of flour all over it.

Well, it's just "light" snow today apparently. Temperatures are -1 deg C, -11 with wind chill. I'm waiting till noon to head into office, and working from home in the meantime. Wonder if I've enough to keep warm - guess I will find out later when I step out! :-p