Driving across town on a windy day is one thing. Heading out on the open prairie is something else. In the city, buildings, trees and the coulees break up the wind. Once you’re out on the highway, there’s nothing between you and the mountains but grass and fence lines. Gusts hit harder, come with less … Read more
When the forecast says “minus 15, feeling like minus 28,” that second number is the wind chill. It’s not a different temperature. It’s a measure of how fast the wind pulls heat away from your skin. On a calm day, your body keeps a thin layer of warm air right next to your skin. Wind … Read more
Black ice gets its name because you can’t see it. It’s a thin, clear layer of ice that takes on the colour of the road underneath, so the pavement just looks wet, or doesn’t look like anything at all. It forms when there’s moisture on the road (melt, light rain, fog, even frost) and the … Read more
There’s nothing like a southern Alberta chinook. The temperature can jump 15 or 20 degrees in a few hours, the snow starts melting, and everyone’s out in a light jacket in the middle of winter. The catch comes later. All that meltwater has to go somewhere, and when the chinook breaks down, or the sun … Read more
Ask anyone who has lived in Lethbridge for a while and they’ll tell you: the wind isn’t the average, it’s the gusts. A forecast that says “wind west 40 km/h” sounds manageable. But on a chinook day, gusts can run 30 to 50 km/h higher than that, and gusts are what move things. They push … Read more