Winter Storm Hits Eastern Townships

The 29th snow storm of the year pounded the Townships bringing a bit of everything, allowing us to sample climactic delicacies from all over Canada; from pouring rain like in Vancouver to gale forced winds like at the Alert Weather Station in Nunavut, this storm gave us a taste of all!

The start of the weekend was literally the calm before the storm. Saturday saw temperatures climbing up above freezing and then all day the rain got heavier and heavier and the Coldbrook was threatening her banks and huge pools of mushy ugliness built up on roads all over Knowlton. Roads were closed throughout Quebec and many of us were glad to be living in the small town of Knowlton as those poor Montreal residents must be going through a special kind of snow hell!

When the rain turned to ice rain the tree branches began to feel the weight of the ice and many were cracking and tumbling to the ground. Luckily the ice rain turned to snow and throughout the night the warm air melted most of the snow so there was not an emergency ice storm like the big bad one a decade ago.

Winds picked up and blowing snow started into Sunday and huge piles of snow created snow dunes and winds were expected to be gusting over 100 km/h in some areas, luckily The Eastern Townships is not expected to see such strong winds but more snow is going to be falling and with the winds it's a good time to stay home and curl up under a blanket and sleep until May!

At least there is some good news this weekend: Panissimo, Knowlton's favorite artisan bakery and bread emporium, has started selling fresh croissants! Up until now Panissimo only sold a variety of baked bread, and while it is the best bread in the region surpassing Owl's Bread in flavor and quality, it is great that they will now be serving up fresh baked croissants starting every morning. Panissimo opens daily at 8am so go and get your fresh croissants and tell them you read the news here on DestinationKnowlton.com!

Saturday saw heavy rains and temperatures hovering around freezing and the storm warning sent people scurrying for their emergency candles and extra blankets as it looked like a major winter storm would make it's way in to The Eastern Townships.

Many of us remember where we were during the Quebec Ice Storm of 1998 and how we were without power for days and suffered immense losses of trees that buckled under the weight of the heavy frozen ice. Well, it looks like we might have a little bit of deja vu all over again as the rain started pouring down on Knowlton, Lac Brome and the Eastern Townships in what is looking to be a real messy weekend!

While it may not be as exciting as the last great Ice Storm and may be only considered a winter storm with a bit of freezing rain it still had people wondering what to expect as they sat down to dinner.

By 5 PM on Saturday, Lac Brome work crews were busy trying to open up storm drains on Victoria Street as the snow from last night turned to thick slush in the rain and blocked the drains and made driving hazardous. Victoria Street is already a pock marked mess like some sort of pot-hole slalom course and the huge piles of slush that started forming on Saturday didn't help. Cars sent slushy spray flying into other cars and the police were busy with accidents as drivers, once again, fail to realize that pouring rain and temperatures at the freezing point can be a be a complicated mix.

Sunday, With the temperatures plummeting and the high winds the roads are a mixture of ice covered potholes with ridges of solidly frozen tire tracks with large snow dunes!

Snow from last night gradually turned into a steady rain as a trough of low pressure passed over the Townships. The entire Eastern Seaboard has been pummeled by a monster winter storm recently and it looks like it's now our turn! While the daylight can make frozen branches look rather beautiful it is the weight of the frozen snow combined with high winds that cause branches to fall and break power lines and damage property.

Power and cable services started fading off and on just after 6pm and with violent winds being forecast for the night along with several more mm of freezing rain. Ice pellets and high winds! This is the sort of nightmare scenario that leaves hockey fans in doubt of watching their Hockey Night in Canada on a Saturday night! For some of us that is enough to make us want to buy an emergency generator...what would happen if we lost power during the playoffs!?

And why do these havoc-wreaking storms always seem to hit on a weekend? Why doesn't this sort of thing happen on a Tuesday so we can have a few days off work instead of ruining our weekends!

Such is the mischievous side of Mother Nature!

Tree branches started tumbling in the early afternoon around Knowlton as a warning that maybe candles and camp stoves would be in use over the rest of the weekend. The IGA in Knowlton was busy as residents and visitors stocked up on supplies in advance of the storm. Skiers must be madder than Jasey-Jay with a hangover as this weekend at Bromont and Sutton look to be washouts!

As people sat down to supper they could only imagine and wait in anticipation as to what the night would bring. When Environment Canada issues severe storm warnings it's always a good idea to take them seriously and this looks like it's going to be a long and dark night!

At least the storm won't be getting any worse...it's still bad...almost as bad as the chances that the Leafs will make the playoffs, but if we have to light a few candles and cook using fondue pots because we lose electricity so be it! I tell you one thing...it really makes me treasure those few precious weeks I got to spend in Hawaii in January.

What adds insult to this icy injury is we are also switching to Daylight Savings Time this weekend and so we get one less hour of sleep before we have to wake up and start shovelling our cars out from under a mountain!!

Well...it's a good thing it's March and not December and we're almost at the end of Winter. And at least now you will be able to fuel up for the day of shovelling with fresh n' hot croissants from Panissimo! Oops...I guess you have to shovel out your car first! Hang in there!