Significant Weather Events - Winter of Early 2019

It has been an exciting year so far. Who knew extreme cold and snow storms could be so fun?
But really! I have had the opportunity to cover 3 significant winter storms across the country so far in 2019, as well as have some fun with cold weather experiments given the anomalous extreme cold that has taken hold of the prairies for weeks now.

My first big trip came in mid January, where I documented my first east coast storm in Atlantic Canada with Chris St. Clair. It was a great opportunity to work with and learn from a weather presenter I've watched since I was in elementary school. We flew to Halifax and drove to Fredericton to cover the storm, where several centimetres of snow and ice pellets fell. Heavy freezing rain occurred southeast of the city toward Saint John and Sussex causing localized power outages, and we observed some minor overland/tidal flooding near Truro on our way back to Halifax.

Ice accretion on trees sounds like glass breaking when the wind blows. 

One of my favourite things about the trip out east was learning about "Storm Chips" - which weather-worn Easterners are said to purchase before battening down the hatches for East Coast storms. And there are actual Storm Chips - they're amazing. Here's a tweet where Chris and I find out some locals have purchased their storm chips ahead of the storm. 

STORM CHIPS

Not long after returning home, I went to Saskatchewan to cover a blizzard that quickly followed an Alberta clipper through the Regina area. It is amazing that whiteout conditions can occur with strong winds where only a centimetre of snow has previously fallen! Click here to see a live hit in the blizzard. 

After the blizzard, I headed to Manitoba, where the real fun began. I got to experience my first windchills of -50C and colder, and tried a couple of really fun cold weather experiments. Here is a link to where I throw a thermos full of boiling hot water into -40C air, and here is a link to a scene of bubble freezing in -32C temperatures on a prairie fence post. Thankfully, winds were light. I would later go on to successfully (and luckily) perform both of these experiments live on CBC's The National! Speaking of which, there were many live hits to be had during the cold weather, which necessitated me bundling up to an obscene extent. 

There's no evidence that's me, but many friends sent me pics of their TVs when these hits were happening.

A picture of my face after walking the streets of Winnipeg for an hour and a half trying to find locals to talk to.

And here's a video clip of this scene!

The bubble-freezing craze wore off on me and I had to give it a try. Beautiful. 

Screen capture of the hot water toss. Cool scenes. 

Extreme cold is typically seen as a nuisance due to its uncomfortable nature, and the fact it can wreak havoc in other ways, including the stress it places on those seeking shelter from the cold, burst pipes and water mains, and vehicle trouble, among other things. But strange things also happen when it is unusually cold, so it is also fun to see science in action. As the cold continued in Calgary, I tried the frozen egg yolk experiment, as well as the frozen noodles, which were super neat as well. Here is a link to the footage of our experiment and my patient wife. 

This is some next-level cold. 

In mid-February, I went to Vancouver to track back to back snowstorms that heavily impacted parts of the lower mainland and southern Vancouver Island. It was quite something to see the juxtaposition of snow right to a beach with palm trees!

Sunset Beach Park, in downtown Vancouver 

Finally, I got to see the methane bubbles of Abraham Lake for the first time. It is certainly worth the trip to such a beautiful and remote area of the Rockies. All attempts to light a methane bubble proved unsuccessful. Here's to next fall! Click here for a more cinematic look at the bubbles.