The first snowstorm of the Winter

The 22nd of November is usually the bang on date for the first snow storm round these parts but since this year is supposed to be the worst, coldest, most horrible and scary Winter in 50 years because of the La Nina combining with a periodic shift in the North Pacific oceanic oscillation it was no surprise that we were whacked with a big one almost a week early.

A small but strong low pressure system sat off the Vancouver Island coast pulling in lots of precipitation and a large high pressure system sat over the interior of BC. This high pressure system caused an outflow of cold air through Howe Sound and across the Straits of Georgia. When the two systems met just over the East coast of Vancouver island and the Gulf Islands the normally heavy rain turned to a big dump of snow.

Friday downtown Ganges was the usual presnow pandemonium with people buying up the stores as if there would never be food again. I don't know what the story is here but maybe some people don't store much food at home. My main concern is having enough beer!!

The snow arrived as predicted on Friday night and at about 3am there was a short power failure. I got up at about 5.30 and there was a big blue flash down the valley and all the lights went out. BC Hydro phone help said they expected the power to be on again at midnight Sunday so I was stomping mad and pissed off since they charge New York prices for their service and treat us like we're in Rwanda......a small wind storm and the lights go out..a snowstorm and we can be sitting around for days without power. It's like they can never sort out the weak link in the chain. Well we sat around all day, I got my photo montage project done, studied a bunch of mushroom propagation stuff for my Mycelium course in May and then started drinking lots of beer. Greg plowed the driveway and I shovelled a bunch of snow off the decks. All in all we got a foot of wet heavy snow.

The sunset was very pretty with a full moon coming up creamy in the pink and blue sky. This got me dancing in a wild and drunken fashion out on the deck to Florence and the Machine. Then I slipped on the ice and fell on my face. I injured my shoulder and that was the end of the fun and I had to sit next to the fire for the rest of the night while Greg cooked up some supper. The lights went on at about 7pm so that made it over 24hours earlier than BC Hydro said. For that we are supposed to be grateful.

Today I am hung over and sore and the snow has started again......the cars are still stuck at the top of the drive but I don't care since I have two more days off and enough beer to get drunk again ..........I think I'll make some Minestroni soup and post it here. This is a fabulous soup that is just the best thing for Winter snowy days.