Ah, the Joys of Winter! :P
trixstir was getting worried about getting stuck in the snow last night, so she closed the bowling alley early and came home just after 6pm. While the snow hadn't come down like she was worried about, the high winds during the day had re-filled the driveway, blowing snow over the burms that the Kidling and I had built, and making it impassable once again. Trixstir was forced to leave her van at the end of the driveway and walk in, while the Kidling and I went out with snow-shovels and started digging it out again.
This afternoon, I spent some more time digging out what had blown in overnight, as well as digging out the area behind my truck and the Explorer so that I could actually get them out of there. I needed to head into town to pick up the new fuel-filter for the truck, and go have yet another look at the Frankenengine - Apparently it's still giving the owner trouble, he just can't seem to get it tweaked just right. I called before I headed over there to make sure the road was passable, as they don't live off the main highway like we do. I was told that the school-bus had no problems earlier, so I figured I'd be OK. I wasn't...
I never actually got as far as their farm; The road was dicey in several areas, but I managed to plow through them. I was almost at their place when I hit a section where I couldn't even see the gravel road anymore, it was buried so deeply in the snow! All along before, there had been enough patches with gravel showing through that I could tell where the road was, but this was just a huge blanket of white! I tried to go through it, but I got about 30 or 40 feet into it when the Explorer bogged down. Rather than (foolishly) trying to slog ahead, I just very carefully backed up the way I had come in, until I was back on a section with lots of gravel again. Once again being very careful not to wind up in more deep snow (or worse, the ditch!) I made a multi-point turn until I was headed back the way I had come in. There were no other tracks in the snow, so I'm thinking that the school bus must have come in on a different road, because it sure hadn't come in the way I was trying to! I called the customer and explained the situation, and said that I'd have to come another time when the road was clear again. I made it back to our farm OK, and checked the Environment Canada weather page.
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT
Warnings
Shaunavon - Maple Creek - Val Marie - Cypress Hills
3:28 PM CST Friday 21 January 2011
Winter storm warning for
Shaunavon - Maple Creek - Val Marie - Cypress Hills issued
Expect up to 15 cm of snow tonight over the Cypress Hills as well as widespread blowing snow reducing visibilities overnight.
This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions...Listen for updated statements.
A developing low pressure system in Alberta will strengthen and track through Southwestern Saskatchewan overnight and into Montana by Saturday morning. Snow ahead of this system will begin to spread into southwestern regions of the province this evening with the highest accumulations of up to 15 cm over the Cypress Hills by Saturday morning. The rest of the Shaunavon region can expect 5 to 10 cm overnight. Additionally with this system northwesterly winds increasing to 40 gusting to 60 km/h overnight tonight will reduce visibilities to near zero at times in blowing snow.
Snow and blowing snow giving these poor visibilities will continue into Saturday morning. Conditions will improve throughout the day on Saturday as the snow tapers off and winds diminish.
This winter storm can produce poor travelling conditions. Persons in or near these areas should be on the lookout for adverse weather conditions and listen for updated warnings.
Fun fun fun...
The temperature is supposed to be OK for the next few days, so I'm hoping to be able to get my own snow-blower fixed, and even bring the tractor out and dig a path through the heavier snow. I really wish that we had a 3pt-hitch snow-blower for the tractor, but that's about another $3k that I just don't have. A standard self-propelled 46" snow-blower costs about that much, so to me it just makes a lot more sense to buy the tractor-mounted one that has a much larger cutting path, and can throw the snow a lot further.