11:15 am - Sustained winds of 82 km/h - Ides of March Blizzard

Old Sanavik Co-Op - 44 m

Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School from the 12-plex door - Ummm where is the school - you can just faintly make out the power lines half way there - less than 100 m away

Shed  looking west - less than 10 m away - note you can no longer fully make out the buildings right behind the shed

Even worse shot of the Old Sanavik Co-op - Look down a few pictures - I'm wondering how much Tyvek will be left on this building after this storm.

I think I can safely say this is the worst visibility that I've ever seen.  This has definitely been the year of the blizzard - I've heard count of this being the 14th weekday of blizzard conditions.  If you add a number of weekend blizzards and Christmas holiday blizzards to that... we are going to easily surpass the average of 20 days of blizzard conditions in Baker Lake.  We are known as the blizzard capital of Canada for a reason.  

More Photos from the Ides of March Blizzard -

Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School < 100 m away

Old Buildings beside the 12-plex - 20 m away

Back stairs of the 12-plex

Old Sanavik Co-Op Building - 44 m

So, I'm getting pretty impressed.  I'm not sure if this is the worst visibility that I've seen in 4 years, but its pretty intense.  Piqhiqtuq or Piqsiqtuq means "there is a blizzard".  I think that applies today.

A few more terms from the Inuktitut Living Dictionary

Strong Wind - Nakkialivuq
It makes a great sound of strong wind - Sulutsugittuq
Wind - Anuri
Snow Storm - Apusimatiqtuq
Snow makes a squeaky or Crunching sound underfoot - Atairranaqtuq
Snow Drifts - qimutjuk
Drifting Snow - Natiruvaaq
Snow, Blowing - Piqsiqtuq (same as blizzard)
Falling Snow - kangniq
Something that the wind removes the snow from - Salittutuq
Do gymnastics in a snow house - Ujautaqpuq
Fine powder snow blowing along the ground - Natiruvaatuq
Abandoned Snow House - Illuvikkaku

According to Environment Canada we got 2.2 cm of snow on Tuesday, 6.8 cm of snow on Wednesday. Winds at 9 am - 78 km/h gusting to 91 km/h. Visibility = 0 m
Winds at 10 am - 71 km/h, Visibility = 0 m

Fairytale Sport Somewhere near Ballestrand

Just flipping through photos looking for some good geology pictures when I found this little gem of a spot which made me wish I could go hiking.  Norway is really a beautiful place.

Warnings

Its not all that often that Environment Canada posts warnings in 15 out of 25 sites.  They are all for blizzards.... this is one mother of a low pressure system heading north and bringing snow and wind with it.

Ides of March Blizzard 2012 Part 1

 

 

I'm going to assume that I'll have more "less impressive" pictures later once the 80 + km/hr winds have had some time to pick up snow and the temperature drops.  This has inspired me of a new way to talk about transportation of particles by rivers and erosion by wind.

Snowmagedeon Cometh

 

So... Please note.. we are getting 8 snow-flake snow today... and tommorrow we are suposed to get extra-rediculous winds which should result in 0 km visibility and drifts the size of small houses.

I'm sure there have been blizzards this bad before, but I think this has the potential to be worse than anything I've seen.  I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow, although if its like this at all.. they'll be pictures of violently swirling snow and not a lot else.

The Old Co-op's New Clothes

They've been working on rebuilding the old Co-op into an office building.  Its pretty much been stripped and gutted, but they haven't gotten to the point where they put the new skin on the building.  It appears to be chilly in just its "underclothes" or Tyvek.

Of course, if I was to go out and try and take the same picture right now, the temperature would be -18 C instead of the -36 C it was yesterday morning - and I wouldn't be able to see the building, let alone the moon.  We look like we are in for a doozy of a blizzard with a possible 15 cm of snow tomorrow and temperatures of -4C (Nearly unheard of in these parts in March.) I've barely been able to see the outline of the radio station (about 50 m away) all morning.

I'm just hoping that we make it out on Friday for the Science Fair.  I've been looking forward to it for months and I know the students are excited to go.  

I See a Pink Moon Arising

Well, I got up too late to see if there were amazing Northern Lights - as it was nearly sunrise and already light out, but there was a pink moon hanging just above the horizon to the southwest of town and I thought I should share it for my mom's sake.  She likes pink.

Otherwise, we are into Science Fair Phase 3 and I'm wishing that I'd gotten a few more hours of everything in this weekend, particularly sleep.  Still, its the brightening time of year and wind not withstanding, they are predicting temperatures of -8 C for Wednesday or Thursday - and lots of snow - so not much chance of seeing the nothern lights.  Looking forward to going for hikes once the weather gets better.

"Happiness is a box of new crayons" socks

How to beat the winter blues? Knit up a pair of rediculously brightly coloured wool socks and then go "splash" on your cosmically peaceful yoga-mat lake in the middle of the living room.

Its Saturday afternoon and I've spent a good part of today discussing the coaching change for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hoping its a good change, but recognizing that it was the only card left to play at this point. I guess we'll see. I'm looking forward to the game, but I'm nervous what it'll mean next year. Being a Leafs fan works best with a lot of unrealistic optimism and faith - and I'm sticking to that game plan until mathematical probability rears its ugly head. Stanley Cup here we come!!!! Until such time as I'm forced to revise my outlook to "Stanley Cup, here we come next year"

Beyond that - it is still cold and wintery outside - but the wind has gone done that and with it the wind chills. Its bright and crisp outside and its nice to have longer days.... if only one didn't need so many hours of sleep, just think of the things that you can get done.

Flowers in an Alpine Meadow, Pretty Close to Heave if you Ask Me

Taken in Late July or Early August - this display of wildflowers blew us away. Hiking from Healy Creek to Sunshine

Things I Miss About Summer

This is my bike. This bike has been on trips greater than 30 km in a dy and to the pool and just in general when I wanted to get around. Its shiny and its blue and the breaks and gears work and I bought a kick stand for it anyways, even though apparently the bike shop thought that was a dumb idea for a mountain bike. Right now, its about -54 C with the wind chill, and it woud be too cold to even think about going for a bike ride. Additionally, several months worth of snow don't leave the best riding conditions. But one day, it will be summer, and I will be able to play outside without a belaclava and my hood up. I'll be able to wear sandals instead of insulated rubber boots and plant impatients in my mothers garden. I'll be able to take pictures of flowers in alpine meadows and splash in the puddles made of by rain. I'll play disc golf and hike in the woods (sometimes in my sandals) and watch thunder storms. I'll eat food that was cooked on a barbaque and go to a farmers market. I will hopefully go camping and maybe even backpacking. I'll have to wear shorts and t-shirts and sunscreen and I'll complain about how hot and humid it is. I'll somehow track down a copy of the Command Sisters CD.

I love winter and I love the different sounds snow makes depending on how cold it is. I love the peacefulness of a winter night on the tundra and the friendliness of people in a smal town. I love my parka, but looking at the weather today, I don't want to get bundled up and go outside... I would rather dream of summer in our cozy little apartment and look wistfully at the picture of my bike and look forward to riding it again.

Balmy Days in Iqaluit at the Teacher's Conference

After a few tense hours when the weather looked to interfere, we did make it to Iqaluit for the conference. It was exciting and great to change locations for a few days, although as always, I'm glad to return to my home community and not tempted to move to the capital. Its just that one of the things I love about Baker Lake is just how friendly people are. I've been here long enough that I recognize most folk and know many quite well, and most people say hi regardless. Its the kind of place where if you wave to someone, even someone you don't know well, they'll wave back. Not so much in the capital - perhaps it was in part because an entire herd of strange teachers had inudated the town and that there are almost always numerous people there only on business. I did run into a guy who went to Lakehead at the same time S. and I did. He even knew a number of mutual friends... so go figure, small world. I did not however, get a chance to meet my relatives (by marridge at any rate) while I was there. The blizzard on Monday caused us to miss out Tuesday sessions - which was a shame because some of my coolest sessions were on Tuesday, although I got a chance to have sessions with one of the groups later in the week due to another session being cancelled.

The sessions were great. I learned lots of new science ideas and how to sew an Ookpik out of seal skin. Being in Iqaluit was great, especially with an unusually warm swatch of weather that lasted the entire week. I know some of my southern readers will laugh when I say that -14 C with light breeze is warm - but it is... I'll be lucky to see more than the odd day of weather that warm between now and the beginning of May. Gee, its been known to be -30 C the first week of May even. So, I took advantage of it and did a lot of walking. The picture above was taken with my hood down (see really warm) out in Apex where I was staying facing accross the bay. The main part of town is tucked in behind the hills, and just out of the picture on the right side. Unfortunately, I am having problems with my pedometer, the battery seems to be running out of juice quicker than it used to and even though I made my 10000 steps a day up until Friday, I failed to make it Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So, hopefully today, I'll be back to going the distance.

Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging regularly. I've just been lazy about taking pictures this year. I don't tend to go anywhere knew or interesting when its really cold and even I have my limits on the number of sunset and sunrise pictures taken from in front of my building. No promises, but hopefully, a little better than once every 5 months.

Straight Up Smoke Kind of Day

Here in Baker Lake, it was a straight up smoke kind of day and the truth is that -31 C isn't so bad when it is dead calm, but add even a 5 km/hr wind and you are starting to really feel it. That said, the return to real, hard cold is having its impacts. I feel desicated. No amount of water, lip gloss and hand cream seem to have any impact on chapped lips or dry hands. The % humidity in my apartment is in the 20s and I feel like I've been drinking liters of water too. If it wasn't for everyone else complaining of the same thing, I might be tempted to go to the health center to see if there is something wrong with me... and in the mean time... I'm going to drink more water.

Its been a real like time since I've last posted a blog. The kind of time that you can't even bother to apologize. Some of it is simply not taking many photos and some of it is that the novelty has worn off as this place has become home, I've reached a limit on how many photos of the same view from the front of my building I can be bothered to take.

Things are going well, if not being crazily interesting. The biggest excitment in my life is having a pedometer, the best accidental purchase I've ever made, since I didn't know that the little ipod touch came with a built in one. At the time, it was an expensive fall out from my very rapid departure from Baker Lake and based on my fear from this summer that I'd have trouble sleeping with all the noise on the boat without music... so I picked up the smallest ipod I could, so I'd be able to go to sleep with music and drown out the sound of the engine coming on and off. Lucky for me, I wasn't anyone where the engine room and I slept like a baby on the boat - best sleep in years... but the pedometer feature I have used every day since and I've tracked and graphed my results and kicked my butt to get off of it and do at least some kind of movement. Maybe I'll post up some graphs soon... maybe I'll dig out ye olde camera and find some motivation to take some lovely winter pictures... perhaps of the ravens pillaging the garbage or the look of smoke rising lazily from smoke stacks.

Actually, today, the wind was nearly calm, a very slight breeze blew the smoke from the dump right into town with a disturbing smell of burnt plastic... so a bit more wind in the other direction would have been helpful. I don't know how the ravens and seagulls stand the smell of burning plastic.

I've also been sort of getting a few folks started on knitting... I have a project on the go that I'm aiming to finish by easter... which at its rate of production.. might not work out... but who knows... knitting happens in fits and starts

Light on the Mountain Side

Sigh... just beautiful....

Mountain Sunsets Rock My Socks

Oh... if only I had my camera with me about 5 million times today from the sky brightening sunrise, to the highlit mountains while we skied to the sunset from the grocery store parking lot - I've been awed by the ever shifting beauty of the mountains.

My highlight today was a 13 km ski - I'm sure I'll be a bit sore, but it was great and the light was just amazing. The next highlight - fresh mandarin oranges - although I think I'm forgetting breakfast wraps at Harvest and wonderful coffee and visiting with S's family for lunch. Its been a great day.... and it isn't even over yet.

I guess this is where I insert the apology for failing to write a word since september... there seems to be an epidemic of blogger writer's bloc in Nunavut. I've just been busy and focused on other things, but maybe I'll try harder in the coming months to at least post once an a while. Expect lots of mountain pictures for the next few days anyways.

CGS Amundsen

Like a gem upon the Beaufort Sea, the red and white CGS Amundsen is both a coast gaurd rescue ship/ice break and a floating science lab. It is full of kind and interesting people, all with a great sense of adventure. I miss it already - especially watching the sky and the sea from the flying bridge and the sensation of being rocked to sleep each night.

Being home is good too though. Its good to see Scott and my students, coworkers and all the folks I talk to regularly in Baker Lake. I still have a bit of time before a few more of my friends return from their vacations. I also have internet on my laptop, which will hopefully help me post a series of blog entries to record my experiences before I forget stuff.

I wonder where the ship is now and what they are doing? Are they sampling or just travelling? Hopefully they are having good weather and lots of sucess at whatever they are trying to do.

Myself, I suspect of catching a cold - as I have slept most of the evening and still feel tired. I'm drinking a cup more lemon tea then heading back to sleep - in hopes of warding off really getting sick.

The world is round - but is has surprises around every corner.

The CGS Amundsen awaits in Corronation Gulf

The ship is here and we are here - now we just need the charter to land before we load onto the ship and head out to the Beaufort Sea. I'm going to have to admit to some bias, but, I think that this might just be one of the prettiest ships to ply the waters of earth with its red and white bright against the background of the arctic landscape and sea water.

Kugluktuk - Heart Lake

I suspect that Kugluktuk is one of the more picturesce places in Nunavut. Its flat topped hills and cuestas reminded me of Thunder Bay - minus the trees of course, although they aren't that far north of the treeline. The community itself reminded me of Baker Lake with the kindness of strangers and size. They have an amazing rec complex. I'll write more about Kugluktuk when I get to the end of the trip though.

This picture was taken at Heart Lake on Sept. 23rd or 24th.

From YK to Cambridge Bay and back and back again

Wednesday, Sept 21st.... I've met up with 3 of our Schools on Board students and we've recrammed our belongings into our duffel bags. Its time to leave Yellowknife and head north to Kugluktuk for adventure on the CGS Amundsen. We head off to the airport, get on our plane and we are diverted to Cambridge Bay due to a wet and muddy runway. We get to meet the Umingmak of Cambridge Bay and we get our taken with him. I worry a bit and hope that maybe we'll be able to land on the second try on the way back - no luck. The good news - our tickets aren't stamped for weather so the airline covers our hotel. Back in Yellowknife we go for Sushi, it isn't as good as the Sushi we ate last may for at the Beacon, but pretty good. The next morning we repeat the cramming of belongings, catching of the shuttle bus and get back on the plane, this time the airline stamps our ticket (not a good sign) and we travel to .... Cambridge Bay - 30 mm of rain in the last 24 hours has not improved the runway conditions in Kugluktuk... so back to Yellowknife. We scramble for what feels like the last 2 hotel rooms in Yellowknife and then get up the next morning, repack, catch the shuttle to the airport and get on a smaller plane and amazingly enough land in Kugluktuk!!! I learned a great deal about how jet, turbojet and helicopter engines work from the really helpful CG helicopter pilot en route.

McAvoy Rd, Yellowknife

Maybe the view from my grandparents place in Yellowknife.... we looked, but I'm not sure exactly what I was looking for - pretty spot - still a dirt road and a beautiful view of Back Bay.

I'm hopefully headed home after 3 weeks of adventure and travel delays to make your head spin.... but I'll save the airline drama a later post.