Just How Cold Was it?

Like most Canadians, I am predisposed to discussing the weather at length pretty much anytime it diverts from the expected. With this weekend's temperatures dropping to new records held for five decades, it seems a reasonable topic for blogging. I mean, I wrote about the same issue two years ago, but it was even colder this past weekend.

So just how cold was it? Cold enough to make the record books, for one thing. It dropped to -45.9°C Friday night, breaking the previous record low from 1969 (!) of -39.4°. The mercury hasn't risen above -20° since Tuesday night but Tuesday's forecast has it going all the way up to -16°, making BBQing at least a possibility again.  

Saturday night it was cold enough to warrant a province-wide alert from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency on everyone's cellphones, warning about the possibility of rolling blackouts if the draw on our grid was not diminished.

We quickly turned off unnecessary lights in the house and unplugged both vehicles as they weren't needed the next morning (even in-person church had been canceled!). Amazingly, it seems like many other people followed suit, with a 200MW reduction in power usage within minutes of the alert coming at 6:44 pm. Honestly, it seems like I get far too few opportunities to be proud of my fellow Albertans, but this was really well done!

UPDATE: Although there are also some very good questions about why more individuals than businesses contributed to this success, and how shutting down a couple of natural gas power plants may have helped cause the shortage (as well as a spike in electricity prices).

It is also so cold that the cargo flight intended to whisk Skye from Edmonton to Toronto yesterday was canceled Friday night due to extreme cold at YEG, and extreme snow (and thundersnow!) at YYZ. WestJet cancelled 191 flights across the country this weekend, so this was not altogether surprising.

Getting either dog outside in this weather is a real endeavour, I kept them out with me while cleaning up the yard from their earlier outings, before the snow concealed them until spring. They were initially happy to hop in and out of the garage to escape the wind, but were barking to be left in before too long, Canéla actually standing on two feet to keep one front and one back paw off the frozen cement.

Despite the aching in my toes (picked the wrong boots, dang it!), I took some time to refill the backyard birdfeeder. When I checked it less than three hours later, it was already half-empty.

At least I don't have to work outside like Glory's BFF on the farm!

Today we tried to take advantage of the low temperatures to defrost our freezer, which my bargain hunting has filled to capacity with a variety of meat, frozen dinners and pizzas. Food insecurity is not a thing here, unless there is an extended power outage. Working together, the three of us had the freezer emptied and into a half-dozen boxes in the garage in under half an hour - which gave me time to refill the front birdfeeder.

All in all, it was a good weekend filled with gratitude for having a warm home to be inside, friends over for gaming in the evening, and dogs looking for afternoon sunbeams to lounge in.

And I do not begrudge winter for being cold - this is Edmonton, after all, North America's northernmost urban region of 1 million plus. And I would love more snow to help replenish the water table in the spring after the dryest November in a century, frankly. 

But if the temps could hang around the negative teens for a little while before heading towards the spring thaw (and not go back to freezing, if you please!), I would be even more grateful!