Rainbow Over Oak Island
According to the trees, it’ll be a snowy winter
There is a traditional rule that says when the cones are set high in the trees, you can expect a lot of snow the following winter.
If it’s true, and if this tree in Feltzen South on Lunenburg Bay is reliable, then we’d all better make sure our snowblowers and plows are working, to say nothing of getting our backs in shape.
The crow in the picture is staking its claim over a reliable food supply. Crows are no fools.
So we’ll see what the winter brings. Remember, you saw it here first…
Autumn is coming to Nova Scotia
Ex-hurricane Danny: Weather for ducks
These intrepid ducks were not at all shy as my husband herded them out of the garden and back down the road. I bet they’re happy now: it’s pouring rain. Danny was briefly a hurricane but is down to a post-tropical storm that will pass south of Nova Scotia on a similar path to Hurricane Bill. After a beautifully sunny, but cool, week, the gardens will love the rain. But weekend campers are out of luck this time.
It seems to have been a bumper year for ducks. Near our place, we’re blessed with lots of natural shoreline where they can build nests. Elsewhere, and where people have the money, they build walls of boulders at the high tide line to shore up their lawns and act as a buffer against erosion. But those neat and tidy rock walls are bad news for nesting shorebirds.
Last blast for Bill
Hurricane Bill ended up not touching the Nova Scotian coast at all. Here’s a map of the final track, from StormPulse.com:
Lunenburg reported maximum winds of 56 km/hr gusting to 70, Baccaro Point further southwest: 67 gusting to 84. By the time Bill reaches Newfoundland, it should have lost power and been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Hurricane Bill passes Mahone Bay
High tide at Western Shore public wharf, on Mahone Bay, around noon today, as Hurricane Bill passes us about 100 miles offshore. The tide is as high as I’ve ever seen it, but I’ve seen bigger waves when the wind had been sustained and in another direction. We’re morbidly keeping a watch on high tides, knowing that if the sea rises a metre as the ice caps melt, we’re in trouble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GazqFt9aow0Hurricane Bill approaching
We’re weather watching, having fun trying to understand what we see and building our knowledge about how weather works. Banks of fog are rolling into Mahone Bay. Are they related to the approaching hurricane? Or just the incoming tide? The water has been warm in Mahone Bay lately, and the air hot and humid. Cooler water coming in would cause moisture in the air to condense and form fog. What do you think? 
Waiting for Hurricane Bill
“Batten down the hatches” – it’s an old expression from the days of “wooden boats and iron men” and describes perfectly what Nova Scotians are doing as Hurricane Bill approaches our shores. Memories of 2003’s Hurricane Juan, which hit Halifax hard, are fresh in our minds. There’s a sense of anticipation in the air, weighted down with high humidity and a fresh breeze. Boat owners are checking moorings, moving boats to safer places, removing canvas to reduce windage and damage, and literally securing the hatches. Everyone is stowing lawn furniture and garbage cans. Apple growers in the Annapolis Valley are concerned for their bumper apple crop, but there isn’t much they can do at this point except wait. And “pray to the rum god,” as a sailor told me as she watched her classic wooden daysailer being hauled out of the water.
Bill is currently forecast to pass south of Nova Scotia during the day tomorrow, Sunday as a Category 1 hurricane. I’m monitoring it on two websites: Environment Canada’s marine info section, and the more spectacular and information-rich StormPulse.com. We’ll see which of the two has the more accurate predictions!
Lunenburg in the fog
It has been raining for weeks now, it seems. A quasi-stationary low has delivered warm, moist air to the South Shore on an ongoing basis.
Lunenburg is still picturesque through the fog. You get a new appreciation for why the buildings are so brightly painted. It’s a cool place to hang out.
Spring Leaf-out in the Annapolis Valley
I had the pleasure of going to the Annapolis Valley yesterday on business. The leaves are not really much further along there than here on the South Shore, depending where you are. I noticed a familiar Valley odour, too – a combination of green growing things and the smelly stuff that helps them grow. No apple blossoms yet, but they must be just about to burst forth – like in this video. They always arrive just in time for the Apple Blossom Festival:
