Lake Vaughn, Reynardton, Nova Scotia
The Calm Before the Storm
Well, that was exciting! November is one of our more interesting months, weatherwise, and this November is no exception. As I drove home from a talk at the Bridgewater photo club that I gave Tuesday night, Wednesday dawned bright and sunny – and completely calm (pronounced k-am here on the southwestern shore of Nova Scotia). The image I made of Lake Vaughn shows the complete lack of wind, and the resulting mirror image of the island reflecting in the still deep waters of this man-made reservoir.
But then came Thursday!
At 7 am it was raining here and spitting snow, with winds gusting into the 60 km/h range. But, it was apparently worse elsewhere in the Province, with heavier snow falling, and much higher winds. In any case, just after 7, a power line in Cape Breton, at the far end of the Nova Scotia, went down – a main transmission line that carries power to much of the mainland. At the same time, a line with backup power from New Brunswick, which was also impacted by the storm, went down. The result was that over half of NS power’s customers were left in the cold and dark!
Hereabouts, schools closed (hard to teach in the dark with no heat or water!), and many businesses and government offices shut down as well. You know it’s bad when both Timmies and McD’s are shuttered!
At lunchtime, my wife and I did some onsight camp cooking - I made corned beef hash on my Coleman stove, while friends who were lucky had their lunch prepared on propane cooktops, grills or in some cases woodstoves. The power came on for most of us in the early afternoon, so no long lasting impact, but it does show how dependent we all are on electricity.
Bravo to the power workers who brave the elements to help bring us back to civilization, but it does make us think about the lobster fishers again – they still haven’t gotten out despite the season being what should have been 3 days old. The forecast is for good weather this weekend – here’s hoping that actually happens.
I’d say that this is really weird for November, but it actually isn’t. After all, we do live in Canada, and so snow in November and every month from now until well into April, just isn’t that unexpected. The true North. Just not feeling quite as strong without that morning coffee!
