The Year of the Icicle

FTLComm - Tisdale - Saturday, march 23, 2002

This retarded spring has brought most people to the conclusion that it is different and unusal. Well in comparison with decades, indeed it is different but compared to last year it is practically the same. The temperatures for what seems like a very cold March mirror those last year when it not until the middle of this coming week that the heat got turned up enough for it to be civil.

The air has stayed very cold and despite the fact that the first day of spring is now behind us and each day we get lots and lots of sunlight the air remains very cold and the jet stream was running as far South as the North and South Dakota border this past midweek giving miserable weather to much of Canada. With the heat from the sun melting the light snow falls that we have been getting causing it to run from rooves and then freeze as it drips to the ground we are seeing some pretty extensive icicle development. The one at the top of the page is a little hard to make out but is between four and five feet long right in the middle of the picture. But every eve and rain spout is a potential icicle builder with some buildings just hanging in ice. Thursday night was interesting as the wind blew very hard all night moving around snow and resulting in some stiff snow banks to be developed on side roads and streets. The picture below shows the huge piles of snow out at the airport.