Earthquake

There was a magnitude 4.4 earthquake felt in the Banff area on Saturday February 13th at about 6:30PM local time.  No damage was immediately reported.  It was apparently felt by locals and lasted for a few seconds.  The United States Geological Survey announced that the earthquake was 5 kilometers north of the Banff townsite, and about 17.3 kilometers deep.  I was out at my cottage in Nordegg at the time, and felt nothing there.  The next morning Canadian authorities confirmed the quake and announced that their measurements indicated a magnitude of 3.9.

It seems that the recent deep freeze that has gripped Alberta is beginning to let go.  I was out at the cottage in Nordegg from February 12 to 15.  It was about -21C when I arrived on Friday, and this was considerably warmer than it had been in the previous ten days or so.  The overnight lows remained very cold as skies were clear, and the thermometer dropped to nearly -30C.  By the time I packed up and headed for home on Monday it had bounced back up to around -3C.