Saturday, February 11, 2012

Wild Weather for the Sweethearts Dance

We've got the decorations all finished and the desserts half done so now it's a matter of getting all the kids ready, getting their hair done, getting myself ready, Steve has 2 service calls, and then we're off in the rain to the Sweethearts Dance and Potluck at the church. It's going to be a fun night. I'll take pics for you to see.

The only possible snag is going to be the weather. Here's the current alert, and it's been raining pretty much a light rain for the past few hours. So right now it looks rather innocuous but it could change rapidly. Here's the weather report:

Warnings

Kings County
11:00 AM AST Saturday 11 February 2012
Winter storm warning for
Kings County continued

Snowfall amounts ranging from 15 to 30 centimetres combined with blowing snow and freezing rain tonight.

This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are expected in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.

An intense low pressure system will bring rain, snow and freezing rain to Nova Scotia tonight. The precipitation has begun this morning as light rain and will intensify later in the day. A rain/snow boundary will set up near the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border this evening then move southeastward later in the evening to lie along the Annapolis Valley to Colchester County region and continue to move southeastward overnight. Heavy snow can be expected north of this boundary with heavy rain to its south. A mix of snow and rain is expected along the boundary combined with an extended period of freezing rain which could lead to significant icing. The bulk of precipitation should end over Western Nova Scotia overnight and by Sunday morning over eastern mainland Nova Scotia. Over Cape Breton, periods of snow may continue through the day Sunday.

The storm will also produce a storm surge. This in combination with a run of high astrological tides will produce higher than normal water levels at the high tides tonight and Sunday. This will be particularly so for the Atlantic coast of Eastern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton at the high tide near midnight tonight when rough and pounding surf is also expected. Additionally the Northumberland strait will experience some ice rafting at the high tide near noon on Sunday as strong winds drive the ice onshore along north facing coastlines. The ice in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence should limit the development of rough and pounding surf.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Elizabeth!
    I'm so glad I found your blog. I have been also thinking of moving out to Nova Scotia (annapolis valley, maybe) because of the lifestyle and reasonable prices of farms. Planning for my family and future generations.
    Now, without sounding gloomy- I just wanted to ask you if you have any insight on global warming effects in NS. Things are already changing everywhere there's no denial and whenever I research NS on line... its not good news. So now I'm asking more and praying for answers and again just wanted to know your feelings on this.

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  2. We've followed the weather for a few years but of course that's not enough to give an accurate picture, the sample is simply too small. Speaking with local people though there seems to be a trend for more windy storms in the early winter and less snow during the winter. The affects of things like la nina are obvious here but of course they're cyclical and predictable. This year we've had above average temperatures all winter and less snowfall than usual but not less precipitation. It's just coming as rain in January instead of the usual snow.

    Depending on where you're located many of the aquifers seem to be largely unaffected probably due to the absence of large scale commercial or urban demands on the water supply. The rainfall here is much more evenly distributed over the year than places like Vancouver Island which is typically dry all summer. That said, people do sprinkle their lawns here in August but nowhere as much as other parts of the country and it does vary year by year. We are going to try some heavy mulching and see if we can have some crops that are not watered at all, just relying on rainfall. I'll post how that goes.

    I'm not saying that NS is perfect. I wish there was no such thing as mosquitoes and the dreaded blackfly hatch for 3 weeks in June, but there are. I'd prefer that it was an island cut off from large cities in the USA, but it's not. And that's good for many reasons too. But given the choices available to us and our desire to stay in Canada, this seems like our best bet. We are preppers or doomers or whatever you want to call us. We think there's the potential for things to go seriously wrong economically and environmentally and we want to be prepared. And while we might be alone in our beliefs we still love it here and plan on making this our home. Praying definitely worked for us...if you're meant to move here, you'll know it too.

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