Winter arrives at Pike Lake
The Frozen North
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
The warnings were issued, and there was nothing left to do other than wait for it to arrive. Environment Canada said we should expect blizzard conditions starting Tuesday night, but a quick look outside showed nothing happening in the way of winter weather.. After work, I drove home to get ready to go to the Saskatoon Amateur Radio Club meeting. After a quick bite to eat and get cleaned up, Kathline and I both went to the meeting and we met some really nice people. After the meeting, we drove home and the weather still looked fine.
Kathline's son Andrew had a flight out the next morning so we couldn't stay out long. Flights out of Saskatoon are almost always the first thing in the morning, and usually around 6 or 7am, so we needed to get to the airport early to avoid the lineups that usually greet early morning fliers. I woke up about 4am and took a look outside and the snow had really just started. There wasn't much in the way of accumulation and nothing at all like the blizzard conditions we were told we were going to have. We all made it to the airport just fine, although while I was driving, the closer I got to Saskatoon, the worse it started to get. Andrew made his flight just fine (although later, we found out that his was the last flight out before they closed the airport due to bad weather).
I went to work that morning and as before, it wasn't really bad driving. However, as the morning progressed, what I didn't know is that the low pressure system was intensifying right over the top of us. I knew it was snowing, but thats all because its really difficult to see out my office window until it gets light. By the time 9am rolled around, I could see it was snowing pretty heavily, but the wind was really the problem. It had really picked up and was blowing the loose snow about, creating near whiteout conditions. At about 10am, I couldn't see across the parking lot to the businesses across the street. I turned on the live scanner website I had found Link and listened as the police and city workers began to shut streets down due to stalled cars and drifting snow. At 11am, the city police started shutting down major highways and thoroughfares. Thats when I decided that if I was going to sleep at home, I had better get going.
Driving in 4wd in Saskatoon in the winter isn't all that unusual, but I really needed it with the condition the streets were in. The snow was really starting to drift in across the road in several spots and visibility was pretty low. I drove through several snow drifts on the back streets trying to avoid the street closures. After about 15 minutes of making my way around back streets, I finally made it to the main highway to get to my house. Thats when I really should have decided to stop and turn back. As I turned onto Valley Road, the visibility went to zero and even though it was the middle of the day and was light, you literally couldn't see anything. I made the turn and started what was going to be a 2 hour trip home that normally takes about 20 minutes. I was fortunate enough that there were not other cars on the road, as by this time, most people had decided to stay home or at work for the night. I progressed along Valley Road going about 15 to 20 mph, because that was as fast as you could possibly go and still see the road in front of you. Many times on the way it was total white out and you couldn't see anything except the front of the truck. I negotiated the gradual sweeping turns on Valley Road basically by instinct. I couldn't see in front of me, and I had to reference the road by the fleeting glimpses of the yellow stripe in the center of the road. At one point, the only option was to stay on the road by looking out the side window and looking down to make sure you could still see pavement and not the shoulder.
After about an hour of driving like this, I estimated I was roughly half way home. As I continued on Valley Road, I passed a small car that had driven off of the side of the road. He was traveling in the same direction as me, but had lost visibility and had driven across the center line, ending up in opposite roadside ditch. I immediately pulled off to the side of the road (so I wouldn't get smashed from the rear in case any other idiots like me were out there driving when they shouldn't) and backed up to see if he was ok. He said he was fine, and he was heading home just like I was and lost visibility.
I backed my truck up and after wrapping a tow strap around the underside of his car, I had him pulled out in short order. We both continued on southward on Valley Road (him right on my bumper so he could at least follow a reference) and headed home. After 30 minutes of driving at a painfully slow speed, we finally passed his home and as he turned off, we exchanged waves out the window. At this point, I was only a few miles away from my home and I felt like a big weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Shortly afterwards, I pulled into my driveway, safe and sound. It was -20F and the wind was blowing about 50 mph. Turns out that this was one of the biggest blizzards on record for Saskatoon. The schools were shut down for the first time since 1984. The airport was closed. All streets eventually were closed because it was too dangerous for the snow plows to be out. Needless to say, we didn't get much in the way of blizzards in Arkansas or Louisiana.
Yes I know now I shouldn't have been out there. Would I do it again? Probably not. It was pretty tense the whole time driving out there with zero visibility and driving in the middle of nowhere. If I had run off the road and gotten stuck, there was nobody else out there to pick me up. With a dangerous wind chill, thats a recipe for disaster. That exact scenario happened to a couple that day. They lost their lives as they walked to try and find a house after having lost the road and getting stuck. They were less than a quarter mile from their house.
Link
Saskatchewan is a pretty harsh climate and totally unforgiving to those not prepared. Lesson learned for a southern boy.
So, whats a blizzard look like at Pike Lake? By now, most of you know what the yard looks like here (check the old entries for late summer / fall pictures). so you should have a reference point. Oh and these are color pictures and not black and white.
Its -26F and partly cloudy this morning at Pike Lake and its 65 F this morning in Arkansas. Go ahead and get it out of your system now because when July and August hits, you can BET I'll be gloating!!
Happy New Year to all my friends!
Dave
Pike Lake, SK
Kathline's son Andrew had a flight out the next morning so we couldn't stay out long. Flights out of Saskatoon are almost always the first thing in the morning, and usually around 6 or 7am, so we needed to get to the airport early to avoid the lineups that usually greet early morning fliers. I woke up about 4am and took a look outside and the snow had really just started. There wasn't much in the way of accumulation and nothing at all like the blizzard conditions we were told we were going to have. We all made it to the airport just fine, although while I was driving, the closer I got to Saskatoon, the worse it started to get. Andrew made his flight just fine (although later, we found out that his was the last flight out before they closed the airport due to bad weather).
I went to work that morning and as before, it wasn't really bad driving. However, as the morning progressed, what I didn't know is that the low pressure system was intensifying right over the top of us. I knew it was snowing, but thats all because its really difficult to see out my office window until it gets light. By the time 9am rolled around, I could see it was snowing pretty heavily, but the wind was really the problem. It had really picked up and was blowing the loose snow about, creating near whiteout conditions. At about 10am, I couldn't see across the parking lot to the businesses across the street. I turned on the live scanner website I had found Link and listened as the police and city workers began to shut streets down due to stalled cars and drifting snow. At 11am, the city police started shutting down major highways and thoroughfares. Thats when I decided that if I was going to sleep at home, I had better get going.
Driving in 4wd in Saskatoon in the winter isn't all that unusual, but I really needed it with the condition the streets were in. The snow was really starting to drift in across the road in several spots and visibility was pretty low. I drove through several snow drifts on the back streets trying to avoid the street closures. After about 15 minutes of making my way around back streets, I finally made it to the main highway to get to my house. Thats when I really should have decided to stop and turn back. As I turned onto Valley Road, the visibility went to zero and even though it was the middle of the day and was light, you literally couldn't see anything. I made the turn and started what was going to be a 2 hour trip home that normally takes about 20 minutes. I was fortunate enough that there were not other cars on the road, as by this time, most people had decided to stay home or at work for the night. I progressed along Valley Road going about 15 to 20 mph, because that was as fast as you could possibly go and still see the road in front of you. Many times on the way it was total white out and you couldn't see anything except the front of the truck. I negotiated the gradual sweeping turns on Valley Road basically by instinct. I couldn't see in front of me, and I had to reference the road by the fleeting glimpses of the yellow stripe in the center of the road. At one point, the only option was to stay on the road by looking out the side window and looking down to make sure you could still see pavement and not the shoulder.
After about an hour of driving like this, I estimated I was roughly half way home. As I continued on Valley Road, I passed a small car that had driven off of the side of the road. He was traveling in the same direction as me, but had lost visibility and had driven across the center line, ending up in opposite roadside ditch. I immediately pulled off to the side of the road (so I wouldn't get smashed from the rear in case any other idiots like me were out there driving when they shouldn't) and backed up to see if he was ok. He said he was fine, and he was heading home just like I was and lost visibility.
I backed my truck up and after wrapping a tow strap around the underside of his car, I had him pulled out in short order. We both continued on southward on Valley Road (him right on my bumper so he could at least follow a reference) and headed home. After 30 minutes of driving at a painfully slow speed, we finally passed his home and as he turned off, we exchanged waves out the window. At this point, I was only a few miles away from my home and I felt like a big weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Shortly afterwards, I pulled into my driveway, safe and sound. It was -20F and the wind was blowing about 50 mph. Turns out that this was one of the biggest blizzards on record for Saskatoon. The schools were shut down for the first time since 1984. The airport was closed. All streets eventually were closed because it was too dangerous for the snow plows to be out. Needless to say, we didn't get much in the way of blizzards in Arkansas or Louisiana.
Yes I know now I shouldn't have been out there. Would I do it again? Probably not. It was pretty tense the whole time driving out there with zero visibility and driving in the middle of nowhere. If I had run off the road and gotten stuck, there was nobody else out there to pick me up. With a dangerous wind chill, thats a recipe for disaster. That exact scenario happened to a couple that day. They lost their lives as they walked to try and find a house after having lost the road and getting stuck. They were less than a quarter mile from their house.
Link
Saskatchewan is a pretty harsh climate and totally unforgiving to those not prepared. Lesson learned for a southern boy.
So, whats a blizzard look like at Pike Lake? By now, most of you know what the yard looks like here (check the old entries for late summer / fall pictures). so you should have a reference point. Oh and these are color pictures and not black and white.
Its -26F and partly cloudy this morning at Pike Lake and its 65 F this morning in Arkansas. Go ahead and get it out of your system now because when July and August hits, you can BET I'll be gloating!!
Happy New Year to all my friends!
Dave
Pike Lake, SK
