The Great Prairie Wind

Tuesday February 1st, In the Year of our Lord 2011

My House, Caronport Saskatchewan

Done with work for the day, 7:55 PM

Weather = Friggin COLD and WINDY

It is currently so cold that it doesn't matter whether or not you measure in Fahrenheit or Celsius, they both meet at negative 40 and below that it doesn't matter, it's just friggin cold. Saskatchewan is a frequent contender for 'coldest place on the planet' and will sometimes bump Antarctica, the North Pole, and Siberia out of the way. Today may have been one of those days.

I recently traveled with friends to Winnipeg and the weather did not want us to go. The wind blew so much snow over the road we could barely see it ten feet in front of us (which is rather unnerving when traveling at 120 km/h.) The trip was excellent, and I will write about it later, but right now I need to write about the weather.

The Great Prairie Wind can scare me sometimes. Everything is so flat and there is nothing stopping all the wind from one end of the prairie (which is larger than France) from blasting to the other end. It is as if the wind comes from the very edge of the earth and threatens to pick you up and blow you off the other end. Even tonight as I returned to my car on the edge of town it was as if I were on a different planet, all that blowing snow and that wind hitting me in the face travelling all the way from who knows where! It becomes an entity all on its own and it is so big and stretches over such a huge distance. Sometimes, when it gets big enough, it will flip cars, uproot trees, and demolish entire buildings.

What a fascinating place to live in.