Snow Day

We received the official call this morning at 6:15 am that school would be cancelled in the morning because of the blizzard.  Unlike in Halifax, when school is cancelled here they only cancel a half day at a time.  Thus we will receive another call from the teacher phone tree between 11 and noon to confirm whether school is on or not.  It is a bit strange being in limbo. It feels like your day can not really get started until you get the afternoon call.

Families and students receive their updates from CBC radio north.  Someone calls the station in Iqaluit and then they relay the information.  Later in the day, someone might go to the station here in town and 'hijack' whatever program is playing to give updates.  This actually happens fairly often for a wide range of reasons.

view across the street one moment

 The blizzard that we are experiencing today is very different from most blizzards I have experienced down south.  There is very little precipitation expected and the main problem is high winds and blowing snow that was already on the ground.  It has been interesting to watch the storm out the window this morning.  One moment everything seems calm and a bit blustery, then all of a sudden the wind picks up and you can barely see across the street.  The weather is also quite warm, still only minus 9 degrees.

Another apparent difference to a storm here than at home is that besides looking out the window and watching it develop you are not constantly bombarded with weather updates.  There are no 'storm tracking' updates, extreme weather reports, or tweets about road conditions. It is a nice change.

then the wind picked up

out for a walk