December tropical storm?

Unlike a summer hurricane or tropical storm, I wasn’t watching this one come for days!

Last night when we were in bed, watching the last two episodes of “Walking Dead” (highly recommended), I checked the weather on my iPhone and it said we had a wind warning for gusts of 90km/hr.

I even said to Jeff, “hmmm, wonder if there is anything we should do to get ready in case the power goes out?”

But we didn’t. Probably should have. At least we should have showered.

So around 5am the power went out, and Monty went haywire, shaking and trembling (he just does not handle the power going out!) There was just no way we were going back to sleep with a quivering dog lying on top of us.

I didn’t get a great sleep last night anyway. I messed my back up so bad shovelling gravel, and everything I did over the weekend seemed to make it worse. Might as well get up.

The wind was crazy. The gusts didn’t have quite the intensity of a the tropical storms we’ve had (i.e. the pressure changes from the gusts didn’t sound like they were taking the roof off), but when I took Monty outside to pee at 5:30 with our battery lantern, I was surprised to see our BBQ had moved all the way over to the top of the stairs to the backyard! I don’t remember the wind ever moving it before!

With my back so sore, I was uncomfortable in every position, and I knew there was no way I could sit in a desk chair typing at work all day. I emailed in sick with my iPhone, took an Advil, and went back to sleep in the recliner when Jeff went to work.

The power didn’t come back on until almost 2 o’clock this afternoon. There were storm surges along the eastern shore that covered the roads and some people need emergency assistance to get out of their flooded homes. It was so windy that the Confederation Bridge to PEI was closed to all traffic for a couple of hours, just the 8th time it has been closed in its history. Some people were heard on the news saying the storm surge and shoreline impact was worse than hurricane Juan!

Wind gusts were recorded over 100 km/hr. It stayed warm here (+6ish) so we only had rain. It’s so waterlogged here our septic system is over capacity again.

Ontario, especially at Jeff’s parent’s place, they are getting a dumping of lake effect snow. I miss that.

But there is something to be said for +6 and no snow in December.

Here’s some storm coverage:
Rescue crews save two women in flooded home – Storm knocks out power in more than 31,000 homes, closes some HRM schools (Chronicle Herald) <-- watch the video on this story! Wild weather stops N.S. ferries – Thousands lose power as storm whips province (CBC)