The weather in Tuk today will be... a seductive young lady?

I logged onto CBC North to check out what the weather will be tomorrow, and hence my chances of getting back into Tuk. Not good... but on a side note, the current weather is depicted by a young lady's picture. I'm sad that I'm not in Tuk to experience this unique phenomenon!



On another note, we're off to Toronto and Ontario for vacation in a week's time, and next Saturday is operation find a wedding dress! Other than the fact that I'm a little confused as to what type of dress I'd like, the other hard part about planning a wedding from Tuk is the fact that finding a wedding dress is pretty much a one-shot deal. I must find a dress this trip, so that in December I can do the fittings, and in May I can wear it for the wedding. Eep!

I've got an appointment at a place called "The Bride's Project" which is in Toronto. It's a nice concept, wherein they collect donations from recent brides, or bridal boutiques, and sell the new or gently used dresses and all of the profits go to cancer related causes. You can check out their website here!

Back to life, back to reality...

I haven't blogged in a while (almost two months!) because it has been a busy two months. April was filled with the final push for the King and Queen competition for the Jamboree (which we won!!!), the Beluga Jamboree itself, a trip to Husky Lakes, then our quarterly meeting in Inuvik, then a trip to Maui, then a trip to Toronto for my sister's wedding, and now we're back and I've been transitioning to a new position within the workplace. It's also spring here (in a good way- warmer than Toronto lately!), so there hasn't been much motivation to be indoors and on the computer outside of work hours.

At any rate, I thought I should post some pictures from our last two months to update everyone on what we've been up to.

I don't think I've posted a picture of our new "ride" online yet, so here is a picture of our truck, a 2011 Ford Ranger Sport on its last trip on the ice road this year in April (even though the ice road didn't end up closing until the first week of May).




Us being crowned King and Queen with fur vests (his is seal skin, mine is rabbit fur) and red sashes. We raised over $9,000 for the jamboree to win first place!


Happy royalty!


The dogs waiting to get hooked up for the races at the Beluga Jamboree.


And they're off!


Deon ice fishing (with no luck) at Husky Lakes on Easter Weekend.


Me fishing at Husky Lakes on Easter Weekend... before I cut off my hair the next week in Inuvik.

I will do another post later with pictures from Maui... We are off for a BBQ shortly to enjoy the relatively warm weather that is sure to leave us soon, and to enjoy the outdoors without mosquitoes before they arrive shortly. Deon came home with a small BBQ and a propane tank (which is a rare find because propane is not available in Tuk, generally speaking), so we have been taking advantage of the nice weather with burgers and ribs on the grill!

p.s. I just saw my first mosquito of the season. It's only May... this is not good news!

The great polar blizz...

This really was the storm that seemed like it would never end. I thought the one in November when Deon was gone to Yellowknife and I was pup sitting was bad... well I was wrong! We have now experienced the worst blizzard I've seen since moving north 2.5 years ago.

On Wednesday morning we were provided with a weather report that indicated that we'd have high winds and perhaps low visibility beginning that night, and perhaps continuing on until Thursday. We were pretty happy with this news at work, because blowing snow usually means that the town shuts down (I know, I know, we have such a long commute, from upstairs to downstairs!).

On Wednesday night we went to the Kitti Hall to do our Loonie Auction and Canteen to try to earn some much needed money for the upcoming Jamboree. At around 9:30 we decided to do a last call for tickets, and then do the draw. Just as we sold the last tickets, the power in Kitti Hall went out. Of course everyone immediately yelled at Richard, the NTPC worker who was there playing checkers to go fix the power so the games could continue on. That is one job in Tuk that I don't envy (along with the "Swamper" for the $#(@ truck).

We carried out the Loonie Auction by the light of our trusty keychain flashlight (note to self- don't poo-poo the junky corporate swag at next year's Petroleum Show, collect as many keychain flashlights as possible!). The draws were done, and we were offered a ride home by some friends. Just as we got home, the power went back on, despite the ever-increasing winds.

We got up the next morning to low visibility due to blowing snow, and some drifting as well. Deon and I went to the office, because we could easily (with the exception of not being able to get out of our side door) get to work, while everyone else called in to say that they wouldn't be able to make it in. We decided to shut down the office, and wait to see if the weather cleared. Luckily for us, it didn't clear until the end of the day, just in time for work to be closed anyway. However, it did provide us the opportunity to go for a walk to check out the damage. It was only -6C after dark on Thursday night, plenty warm to check out the town.

When we walked around town, we surveyed the drifts, and here is what we saw:
*if you want to see a bigger version of the picture, just click on it!


Our building's side porch when the weather cleared on Thursday afternoon. Can't get out the door, but not so bad!


Looking onto the porch- keep these pictures in mind for the upcoming comparisons!


Trying to plow some of Thursday's snow accumulation from the main street.


Drifts along Beaufort Drive.


Gizmo and me by the Bingo station on our evening walk. Pretty tall drift.


The drift in front of Northern is all the way up to the wheelchair ramp. For those who have not seen the Northern, the top of the wheelchair ramp is probably 12 feet from ground level where I'm standing.

On Friday morning we woke up to larger drifts, high winds, and blowing snow again. We closed the office once again, until it seemed to be better around 10:30am. We opened up until lunch, when it got way worse again. In the mean time, we were some of the lucky ones who got a fresh water truck delivery and sewage pump-out. I stress that this was lucky, because by the end of the blizzard on Sunday, some people hadn't had water or sewage since Tuesday because they were too snowed in for the trucks to reach them.

Here is how the porch snowdrifts had grown by lunchtime on Friday:



It should also be mentioned that although the trucks were able to deliver services, they did have some trouble in some areas:


$@#( truck #1 towing out $@#*( truck #2.

After our brief moments of relief, it started to get really bad- 80km/hour winds, and it didn't let up until around noon on Sunday. Deon, and his love of weather and storms just had to go test out the winds and the snow to see exactly what it was like to be in an Arctic storm, so I took the opportunity to get some pictures from the window in our apartment, giving some perspective on just how poor the visibility was:




Can you spot Gizmo, the perfectly blended polar lapdog?



Finally, on Sunday morning we both had cabin fever and needed to get out. The winds were still strong, but we could hear the faint backup beeping of snowplows, graders and loaders, and knew the town was awake and ready to move on from this blizzard. Despite the winds which were biting, and probably still 60km/hr, we decided to go inspect the damages once again.

Here is the porch comparison for Sunday morning:








Here I am on the drift in front of our building- it took about 4 hours to plow out with a loader this afternoon.


The snow was drifted into some interesting shapes... and this is also an example of the perfect blizzard investigation winter gear!


The drift at the end of the rowhouse next to us- it was entirely blocking the road and must have been 15 feet high. (keep in mind southern readers that all houses here are on pilings, or stilts, to begin with so they are higher than your average house down south, for perspective).


Cool drift across the street.


Drift beside the house on the corner behind us.


Animal's old house- probably the most drifted in house in town that we saw.


Yes, that's a house (and maybe a truck?) under there.


Not sure they were going to be using their front door or deck today!


The drift went all the way across the street and still hasn't been plowed out.


Taking a break from shovelling.


The garage entrance at the RCMP detachment.


Stella, Ben and Jen's dog, after their porch has been dug out. Originally they only had about 2 feet of space at the top of their door, and Stella had to be lifted out to go to the bathroom!


The RCMP compound. They haven't had water since Tuesday, and it might be a while longer until they're shovelled out!

At any rate, sorry for the picture-y post, but I hope the pictures give a better idea of what we were up against.

Oh, and I forgot, the best part of it all. We were in the middle of buying a new truck from Edmonton (i.e. filling out paperwork, credit card payments, etc.) when the long distance phone service AND internet dropped out on Friday morning until Monday afternoon. Fun times!!

Blizzard...

Well, it's the beginning of November, and we're in the middle of our first blizzard of the season. Environment Canada welcomed my morning with this lovely warning:



Yes, that's a blizzard warning... on the 4th of November. I suppose I shouldn't complain. I was looking back at last year's blog to see whether I'd recorded the first blizzard of the year, and I don't think that I did (because it happened while we were out for a month at Christmas). However, on November 1st, I did make this posting, in which I noted that on November 3rd, it was going to be -38C with the windchill.

I guess there are trade offs- with unseasonably warm weather come blizzards, like the one we're having today. The winds will get up to 70km/hr, which make walking slightly more difficult than usual, however, the snow accumulation won't be that great.

I'll take blizzard over -38C any day, and I am just happy that today it's only -19C with the windchill, so almost 20 degrees warmer than last year at this time!

Not looking forward to walking the dogs that we're dogsitting tonight, however!

T(uk)-Storm

Tonight at around 11:30pm, we heard a low, rumbling sound followed by the sound of an ATV driving by. Deon and I looked at eachother, and were both thinking it had sounded a bit like thunder. We went to the window, and listened, and sure enough, there was thunder coming from the sky.

We decided to go for a bit of a walk to hear it a bit better, and we most certainly weren't alone. The streets are always busiest around midnight here, especially on weekends, so lots of people were out and about. Soon after we went outside, another loud boom thundered through the sky, and we could hear the kids scream at the play park, and run towards the nearest houses. It was pretty funny, because a thunder storm in the Arctic is a very rare event (this is the first one I've heard in almost 2 years).


The kids at the park running towards the houses.

We took some pictures from the top of the hill in town, and two kids on bikes joined us at the top... one was a co-worker's 7 year old child. (Remember, it's basically midnight?) We asked if they should be getting home, but they thought that the only real concern was that their bikes didn't get too wet... so they tried to cover their bikes with their jackets, and stood with us for a while longer.


The rain, as it moves towards us on the hill.

Once it started to rain quite hard, we decided to head back home, because we didn't want to get too wet, and Deon watched the rest of the storm from indoors.

First big blizzard of 2010...

On Monday the winds picked up and the snow was blowing in Tuk. There was a severe weather warning out, but it said the warning was for Tuesday afternoon, so I guess the snow and wind on Monday wasn't considered "blizzard" weather. By Tuesday morning the blizzard was worsening, and at 2pm we determined it was time to go home, since all of the other offices in town were closing as well.

For myself, Deon and the other employee that live in the apartments above the office, I'm not sure we really warranted a "snow day," but hey, I'll take what I can get! We decided to go check the mail and get a few things at the Northern, and I can easily say that I have never seen white out conditions like that before in my life. It was hard to see more than 3 feet in front of the truck, but luckily everyone was being cautious, and we know the route to the store well... At a pace of about 10km/hour, not much can happen I guess!

Last night the blizzard died down a bit, and Deon and I were feeling a bit of cabin fever, so we decided to bundle up and go for a bit of a walk to see what the drifts looked like. The walk was great when the wind was at our backs, but the walk back home was just a tad windy!!

Here we are, checking out Tuesday's damage:


Look, the new touque!


That's me in my snow gear...


Looking up the street behind our place...


The building across the street...

Shortly after we returned from our walk, the blizzard kicked up again, with loud winds and blowing snow. I've learned to not mind the apartment shaking and the windows rattling, it's actually sort of calming.

This morning when we woke up, we had to go to work to determine whether the office would be closed for the day or not, since the visibility was still very poor. The first obstacle was getting out of the apartment and out onto the porch. I knew very well from the last bad blizzard back in December, 2008 that there could be large drifts out on the porch. Deon tried to open the door, only to find that it wouldn't budge. He then went out the emergency exit back door, and dug out the porch door with his hands. When I managed to squeeze out the door from inside, I saw that it was a about a 4.5 foot snow drift blocking us in. When I walked on top of it, I was taller than one of the office windows... Unfortunately we didn't get to take a picture of the drift, since the maintenance guy shoveled it away before we got a chance.


This is what the inside of the apartment hallway looks like on a snowy day...

When we got to work, we were told to shut down the office. Just as we were about to leave, our co-worker came into the office to ask for help getting the work truck out of a snowbank, which she'd inadvertently gotten stuck in. After about 20 mins of digging, pushing, pulling, etc etc etc, we were about ready to give up. At a loss for what to do, it just so happened that the snowplow was driving by. In the north, we use bulldozers and other heavy equipment for snowplows, unlike in the south where there are trucks with actual snowplow blades. So the bulldozer came up behind the work truck, and yelled at one of us to get into the truck and step on the gas. As Deon did that, the bulldozer pushed us along to move us out of the snowbank.

I spent my time laughing, because in the south, I'm sure that pushing a vehicle out of a snowbank with a bulldozer would cause great alarm in the vehicle owner- who knows what type of damage could be done to the rear end of the vehicle. In the north, this is nothing out of the ordinary... It was relatively painless to us and the vehicle, and it took all of about 30 seconds to push the truck out. Awesome... I wish I'd had my camera to capture the moment. After the truck was rescued, the three of us were soaking wet, after being "blizzarded" on...

At any rate, the blizzard has backed off and it looks like we may have to go into work this afternoon. Rats...

A frosty welcome home...

After a month long vacation, we're back home, greeted by frigid temperatures. Here's tonight's forecast, -52C with the windchill:



We're currently sitting at -51, and it does feel a tad cold out there. I went across to the store to grab a cucumber and some lettuce, and my cheeks stung when I got into the store... about a 30 second walk away.

Anyway, we're back from vacation and settling into the daily work routine. Tonight we have dinner with our friends, and get to see how big their pup has become since we left. I'm definitely planning to post about our holidays, including the highlights: olympic torch relay, the not so warm Caribbean cruise, and the trip back from the southern tip to the northern shore of the continent.

And so it begins...

Yesterday was the first day of 0 hours of daylight. This means no sunrise and no sunset, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac. It will stay that way until January 6th, 2010, when the sun will slowly come back, a little bit more each week...



Environment Canada likes to denote this season using night skies for the weather...



Better than CBC North that shows sunny skies!



For now, although there is no sunrise, there is still a bit of red in the sky, from the sun that is somewhere below the horizon. Here is a picture that I took today at around 2pm.



At any rate, when we return from vacation, the sun should be back out for about an hour a day. For now I'll enjoy my last few days of darkness, which I much prefer to 24 hours of daylight. I don't mind waking up in the dark, having lunch in the dark, and then heading home, putting my pyjamas on, and enjoying the evening in the dark.

Cold!

I guess we were spared cold weather in October, with the temperatures rarely dipping below -10C, and generally around -5C or so. However, looking at the forecast this morning, it looks like we won't be easing into the Arctic winter. No, no. Today it will be -6C, tomorrow, it should be -17C, and by Wednesday, we could see -24C.

I won't complain though, because poor Deon is being shipped off to Ulukhaktok until Wednesday, and there it is expected to be -38C with the windchill. Guess it's time to break out the Canada Goose!

We are also losing daylight very quickly, with only 7 hours of sun today. The sun rises at 10:10am and sets at 5:06pm today. By Friday, we will only have 6 hours and 12 minutes, and by December 6th we will have complete darkness until January 6th.

So there's your weather and daylight update for the week. Only 7 months until the snow and ice leave!