Small Talk About the Weather
August 13, 2014 12:00 pm Leave your thoughts
As anyone living in the western half of this country already knows, forest fires are a big issue this year. The smoke drifting down from the territories is so bad, it is causing air quality warnings in the central prairies, hundreds of kilometers away.
All of the hot weather we’ve had so far isn’t helping with the fires either. Sure, it’s bringing storms in, but with these storms come lightning, starting even more fires. They also don’t drop enough rain to put fires out, just enough to make any back country roads we want to drive on a disgusting mess.
It’s kind of crazy how much the weather affects work out in the bush. A 5-minute rain storm can turn what was a perfectly drivable road into something you can’t even get through with your quad. A few days of hot weather can make enough dust that driving past someone on a gravel road is like driving through a sandstorm, with only a few meters of visibility. A forest fire a hundred kilometers away can cause thick black smoke clouds to drift in, making it impossible to see or breathe. An afternoon storm can bring in hail and lightning, sending everyone scrambling for cover.
Most people hope for hot weather during the summer; these people don’t work outside, though. No one likes to work in 30-degree temperatures, and they like it even less when it storms every afternoon. The little bit of rain you get from these storms is enough to ruin any chance you had at driving many of the back roads I drive on a daily basis.
Most of these roads are intended primarily for winter use, and so they are just a path of hard packed dirt with little to no gravel. This means that rain turns them straight into mud, and it becomes next to impossible to safely drive down them. They become slippery, soft and get all rutted up. When you add gravel to a road, it sticks to the dirt, keeping things in place and preventing ruts in the road, greatly improving the quality of the road.
Hot weather brings storms and fire, but cooler weather usually means fog and rain. We’ve had mornings here in Whitecourt where the fog is so thick you can barely see the neighbors across the street, and you definitely can’t see to the end of the block. All you can really do is sit and wait for the sun to burn off the fog; it simply isn’t safe to drive on the highway in conditions that bad. I have also seen days where there is thick fog around Whitecourt, and then five minutes out of town it is perfectly clear and sunny. This is due to having two rivers, the McLeod and the Athabasca, join together right at Whitecourt.
The weather this summer has been interesting, to say the least. But what is forestry work without a little dust, mud and rain? If it were a nice 20 degrees and sunny every day, it just wouldn’t be nearly as exciting. Work in the bush is all about dealing with challenges like weather, while getting dirty and having fun at the same time.
It’s snowing! Oh wait that’s hail.