The Big Snow~

Above~ December 27, 2014. Below~ January 28, 2015.

Peoples’ preconceptions of winters in New Brunswick seem to be one of kids sliding down roofs onto huge snowbanks that go up to the eaves. I don’t know if that is because of some drawing or photo in school textbooks that people latched onto, like Americans crossing the Detroit/Windsor border in July with skis on top of their cars, or what. It certainly hasn’t been my experience living here in southern New Brunswick, with the exception of one year: 2015.

Mr. Big rolls into town~

The winter of 2014-15 started out with a real bang with three nor’easters in November/early December 2014. And then nothing. The green Christmas of 2014 and the bare fields belied what was to come late January 2015. A series of blizzards, storms, quiet snowfalls and three more nor’easters created a “worst in decades” situation that came to be known as Snowmageddon. We ran out of places to put the stuff, driving in town was hell trying to see around snowbanks. Parking lots in the malls and big box stores had these white mountains so massive that some estimated it would be June by the time they melted.

Two bird feeders, 60″ off the ground, on March 19, 2015.

By February 3, 2015 the city of Saint John declared a state of emergency. The usual 15 – 20 centimetres of snow accumulation by that date was now 126. From “Montana to Maine” the US was in the big chill. The Superbowl Victory Parade for the New England Patriots had to be rescheduled in Boston. And then a massive nor’easter hit here on February 15 following the one on January 27 and then another on March 15. Wow!

Much of the media was calling it a 50 year event. However one of our neighbours noted that the last time he had seen snow at that level was 60 years ago.

Slideshow~

But wait, there’s more~

Long after the snow from January had melted, Mother Nature apparently wanted to make sure that 2015 would be a year no one would soon forget. On September 30, 2015, a massive rain storm occurred overnight that would affect insurance coverage and force people to rethink flood zones. I really don’t know how much it rained as our rain gauge only holds 8in/200mm. The next day Charlie and I went on a little tour with my brother-in-law to survey some of the damage.