Nasty weather in the west!

[Jay911]

Ouch.

My woes from last night (living in the Bragg Creek area SW of Calgary and dealing with that wicked wind storm we had) pales in comparison to the ordeal the GVRD is going thru. You guys out in BC have our thoughts.

The wind out here was easily at levels of sustained 60kph gusting to 100 or more. As a lot of you know, I'm part of the volunteer fire/rescue service out here. We got called out first at 7:30pm for trees down on power lines, which ended up cutting power to a major part of the area west of town for over 8 hours. We handled at least 15 calls, ranging from public hazards (for trees blocking roads and down over power lines) to possible house fires (trees leaning against power lines and smoking) to a medical call that possibly had relation to carbon monoxide buildup in a home.

The wind was absolutely ridiculous. I'm a big guy and I had to lean into it a number of times. Also, I promised/threatened one of the other firefighters that I would use her quote: "I got out of the Rescue and my helmet blew off!"

Luckily, there were no injuries reported and other than the loss of a number of trees and some sustained power outages, damage was minimal.

 

[RDCat]

any IPN users or other

incident real time paging services in use in alberta or b.c.??
email me direct
ronc@tti-aspen.com
thank you

 

[boy_ryan22]

First Rain Flooded our City. Then a week later Wind Knocked down our Trees. Now this week We have more snow than we have ever seen in years. I am starting to hate vancouver. But on the good side It sure does make for some Extreme Scanning!

 

[RDCat]

how much snow

does vancouver even have any snow plows yet
when i was living there they had only a handful
3 inches would f"em up and make downtown van a mess

 

[EJB]

Every so often Vancouverites get...snow!, lots of it at once!
Youd think they could deal with it better.

Anyways right now its +14, down from a balmy high of 15.

This cold air mass is ready to smash into the Golden Horshoe but a lot of the cold will be neutured by the great lakes so we might get away with +2 and flurries on the weekend.

That said, we all know what minimal amounts of snow do to GTA traffic! :-(

 

[boy_ryan22]

lucky you! its -12 here. Up from -19 with the wind chill.

 

[Jay911]

I'm gonna trump you all for temperature.

Right now it's -12°C. That's warmed up from today's high of -14°C.

Several days gone past have been between -22°C and -29°C without the wind chill. Several nights, it was cold enough that my fixed-wireless Internet transceiver (which is kind of like wireless DSL) quit operating.

Gonna be -1°C tomorrow. Shorts weather! Tanning!

 

[richster]

I'm gonna trump you all for temperature.

Right now it's -12°C. That's warmed up from today's high of -14°C.

Several days gone past have been between -22°C and -29°C without the wind chill. Several nights, it was cold enough that my fixed-wireless Internet transceiver (which is kind of like wireless DSL) quit operating.

Gonna be -1°C tomorrow. Shorts weather! Tanning!

Hi Jay,

That's what happened with my friends wireless internet (Image Wireless) last night. I don't know how or why cold weather effects a microwave transmission, but it crapped out. I was shocked to see Calgary (and area) getting some real cold weather for a change.

I hope that -1°C makes it here by the weekend!

Regards,
Richster.

 

[richster]

Alright this is just BS!

I just checked the forcast, and it's going down to -25°C Friday night, and only recovering up to -21°C for Saturday. Add the Saskatchewan wind to that, and it will be mental. Well so much for the skidoo this weekend.

Even the nice weather doesn't like coming to Regina. :lol:

Regards,
Richster.

 

[Jay911]

That's what happened with my friends wireless internet (Image Wireless) last night. I don't know how or why cold weather effects a microwave transmission, but it crapped out.

I use a local company called Davinci Broadband using Motorola Canopy Wireless equipment. I think the cause in my case was that the subscriber module (the device that sits outside the house, pointed at the tower) was outside its operating temperatures. The literature I could find on the net implies that the SM works between -30 and +55, and when I went out with my infrared thermometer, which reads down to -25, the reading was off the scale on the SM's surface.

Good luck with that cold you're dealing with. Today it was near zero here and all the road surfaces turned to slush (since Calgary believes in the laissez-faire philosophy of road clearing - leave it be and wait for a warm spell!), so everyone was going 15kph everywhere. Took me 90 freakin' minutes to cross the city (12km) tonight - and another 18 to get from the city limits to my home in the rural foothills, 40 more km away.

 

[HDMechanic]

Jay you got to love them Calgary drivers. Took me 30 min on monday to drive to my work which usally takes 5 min.

 

[Jay911]

Jay you got to love them Calgary drivers. Took me 30 min on monday to drive to my work which usally takes 5 min.

My blood sure was boiling by the time I got to Stoney Tr x 16 Av. Actually, it was boiling by the time I got to 32 Av x 26 St NE, and I work just north of the PLC.

Apologies to anyone I encountered on the way home tonight, I was not in a good mood. To the rest of you - get over it and drive, even if you have to hang up the phone. I'm talking to you, Mr. cube van who cut me off at 16 x 14 NW and goofed around until you pulled back OUT of the left lane at 16 x Bowfort.

And to the City of Calgary: How about driving some of those big trucks around, the ones with the large blades on front or under the chassis? What other place in the world is it acceptable to have a major highway running through a city of a million, with 3 inches of slushy snow built up in between the lanes?!

Anyway - to HDMechanic: Nice avatar. That is a beautiful bird... I hear that HWC1 got sold to a private citizen in the Toronto area. Yet more life for the old "Speed" bird

(To keep us on scanner related topics - for those who monitor CPS, you may be interested to know that "Scratch" is not going to be heard much longer. Flight Officer Skrastins pretty much developed the HAWCS program, and is retiring. His distinctive voice and way of 'calling' an incident will be missed!)

 

[Bravo1]

They Sold HAWC1?!?!?!

I thought it was just going in for a Z check?

Wow, to get the inside scoop here and to not hear HAWC1 flying over top anymore will be missed.

Also going to be missed is "Scratch", he certainly does have a very good way of calling the action.

Cheers!

Bravo1

 

[Jay911]

The story I heard/read in a local newspaper is that C-FCPS, the original McDonnell Douglas MD520N that CPS has had since the start, was sold to an individual in the Toronto area. He intends to use it for private use and to receive business clients.

I have heard from various flight officers, etc., that C-FHWC, the Eurocopter EC120B that HDMechanic has in his avatar, is a much nicer machine (even though the city bought it used as well), and much better suited for the kind of work the Air Services Unit is doing. The guys I talked to said given the option, they'd prefer more Eurocopter 120s.

 

[HDMechanic]

How about the latest artical in the sun. Hawcs down due to lack of pilots. I see CPSd lost two pilots to Stars. I guess CPS should pay up to the pilots if the want to keep Hawcs in the air. I also read a new helicopter is coming next year that CPS has already purchased. My question is where did the money come from??? As far as i know the last fund raiser was to by the curent chopper. If they had this much extra they should have given it to CPS air services to keep the chopper in the air and due a second fund raisers to get an heli. Oh well what can we due??? Sorry for ranting and raving just a little bit upset due to not hearing Hawcs on the air lately.
P.S -- It should be legal to install a machine gun on the hood of are vehicles to get the a** out of the way. Bang bang you out of my way . HEHEHEHEHEHE

 

[Jay911]

I hear you ... but like you and the article said, it's time to pump up the salaries.

I talked to a flight officer in the summer who directed me to those photos I linked in the earlier message. This was not long after C-FHWC (which was then known as HAWC2, but I guess is now HAWC1) was finally operational. He said at that point that the crews liked the Eurocopter so much that they intended to get another to replace the MD520N, but I figured it was a long time off, just as you did.

And I have long been an advocate of arming police helicopters. You wouldn't have police video of cars being pursued across 3 or 4 counties and then smashing into a grandma at a red light, but you would have spectacular footage of a car grinding to a stop with steam & smoke blowing from an engine with 3 or 4 20mm Vulcan cannon slugs in it.

 

[HDMechanic]

That would be so cool to see. Die you criminal die.

Myself i would like one of them mounted on my truck. Out of the way you dumb Calgary driver. Don't wont to move. Hmmm ooohhh so much fun. LOL

 

[HDMechanic]

Now that I think about it they havent been identifing Hawcs with a unit number after it when it is in the air. I know when they first brought the new heli out they where always calling it Hawc 2. Since about mid Nov I have only heard the hawc being used. I also noticed they tried to hide the sale of Hawc 1 under the cover. I bet the new owner got a steal of a deal.. Got to love being a tax payer.

 

[DX-300]

Nasty Weather in the West

Yet another pineapple express getting us wind whipped again...Poor Vancouver and Washington, yikes!

 

[HDMechanic]

Glad I dont live on the wet coast anymore. Man have the been hit with one storm after another. Heard they are going to br hit again by another heavy stoum on Xmas Day. Yikes..