Ugh, the weather sucks. It's like, dry and stuff.

Ah, sweet fate. How did I please you so?

Since leaving Toronto, I have avoided 130 centimetres of snow. Not counting the supa storm we had in December, pictured above. In fact, Toronto has had 3 times the snow as last year.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Calgary has received about 30 centimeters of snow. Altogether. And that is allowing for some snowfall before we moved here. I actually cannot verify this online, because the amount of snow hasn't been remarkable and isn't worth reporting. Type in "Calgary" and "snowfall" and you find articles in the Calgary Herald discussing the horrible blizzards in Ottawa, Montreal and... wait for it... the worst of all in Toronto.

Now, I won't go so far as to say the grass is green, but it is visible and dry as a bone. It's been around 10 degrees for the past week or so, and hasn't really gone below zero since the dreaded -30 episode back in mid January. I really can't complain about this.

The reason for our fortunate weather is the legendary chinook. It's kind of neat, the mountains completely trap the clouds. When I was flying back from Vancouver, it was completely cloudy and ready to rain. As we headed west, the clouds slowly became more sparse until I could see tops of mountains poking out. But it was still about 75% covered as we started our descent to Calgary. Then, just as we passed the point where the mountains dropped off to prairie, the clouds vanished and it was completely clear with a bright blue sky.

The fact is, those mountains save us from rain, snow and cold. On the other hand, they also trap the freezing weather here, which is why we had a 10 day cold spell in January. When the chinook blows in, the sky is cloudy with a defined edge that curves. Beyond that edge, it's completely clear and you can see the mountains perfectly. It also goes the other way, where the clouds are all trapped in the mountains and you have perfectly clear weather with nary a breeze.

So today is the tail end of the chinook, and it has been ultra windy. Off blows the good weather, and we've got a forecast for snow for this weekend. But only 60% chance, and it will be zero degrees.

And thus ends your Interesting Facts About Alberta Meteorology session for the day. Cheers from the place where a snow shovel lasts you a lifetime, and you never get backstrain from shovelling.

Come on. You knew I was going to rub it in.