Snowstorm

It started last night. We were coming back from the grocery trip and while the weather had been quite mild even warm before we went in, when we came out of the store there was a strong wind and the frozen rain was beating us against the face. By the time we had finished dinner, we could not make out much of what was outside our windows on the 14th floor. In the morning we woke up to the sounds of the snowplows clearing the paths. Now it’s still snowing outside and on the paths that were snowfree this morning, the snowplows are back fighting the elements.

That’s what locals had told us about – it could be plus 10 and then suddenly by the evening it will be -15. It’s not something that doesn’t happen in Estonia – also one day rainy the next day freezing cold. Here the weather has more extremes it seems and this is due to the location of Calgary – right by the Rocky Mountains that border the warm and wet climate in the West and leave Calgary open to the cold coming from the Arctic. If it wasn’t for the Chinook winds the weather would be around -20 the whole winter. The Chinooks come from the Pacific Northwest and bring the extreme changes. For more info on the Chinooks read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_wind

I will not have to go out until the afternoon, but my husband dressed for the weather this morning when going to work.

Winter gear