Much of western Canada has been in the grips of an extreme cold spell for the past week or so. Record temperatures were set in parts of southern Alberta in recent days. It has been very cold everywhere, and the wind has made it worse. The central prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba were even colder than Alberta. The front ranges out around Nordegg have experienced milder temperatures and less snow than the rest of the province, and the rest of the prairies for that matter.
When I arrived at the cottage on Valentine's day the daytime high temperatures were getting up around -20, with night time lows dropping to near -30. I understand that it was somewhat colder than that back in Edmonton. Since then it has been gradually warming up, and the days have been mostly sunny.
Most of the people in the subdivision, with the exception of the permanent residents, went home after the Family Day Long weekend, just as the weather improved. By Monday and Tuesday the afternoon high temperatures were peaking at about -7C.
On Tuesday February 18th I took a drive west out to Abraham Lake. I'm still not overly mobile with my busted leg in an air boot, so it was essentially just a drive. I stepped out of the truck to take a couple of snapshots, but did not venture off the road. As usual, the level of the reservoir has dropped steadily over the winter. The east end of the lake, near the dam, is quite snow covered. At the elbow of the lake, near Mount Michener, there is only patchy snow. Windy Point lived up to it's name and the wind was sweeping the snow across the frozen lake surface. There is not a lot of snow there, and any south facing slopes are pretty much bare. There is more snow at Nordegg, but still less than we have experienced in Edmonton. For whatever reason there was not really any wildlife out and about and the only deer that I saw were in the subdivision, mostly around my yard.
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