One of the things Canadians are really good at is talking weather.
Yeah, we can talk politics and hockey.
New Brunswick on Wednesday. (CBC)
But weather?
It’s our strong suit.
Maybe that’s because it affects everyone, regardless of who their favourite politician might be or how their hockey team did last night.
Weather is always there, ready to be debated.
Calgary as she shivered earlier this month. (CBC)
And Canadians know–except for a brief summer respite–it’s mainly going to be tough.
“Nine months of winter, and three months of tough sledding,” someone once said.
(Where Canada ranks on the coldest country index appears to depend on what data you read, but rest assured we remain in the top ten.)
Which brings us to this winter.
Emergency vehicles were on scene near some of the crashes on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Calgary last week. Forty cars wound up in the ditch due to snow and icy roads.(Chris Anhorn)
It’s been brutal, the worst I ever remember.
“Is this like Rashomon, is it just me?” I kept asking myself.
“Or is it the actual weather?” I wondered, ofttimes hunkered down shivering at my bus stop.
Seeking a scientific take on my perceptions, in other words, some facts, I called Environment and Climate Change Canada’s senior climatologist, David Phillips.
It’s likely no one in the country enjoys talking weather more than David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada. (Amanda Marcotte/CBC)
Phillips the Babe Ruth of weather-talkers–so good at his job that Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson awarded him membership in the Order of Canada in 2001.
If you want to talk weather, Phillips is the man.
He adores studying it, he’s genuinely tickled about how it works and he knows a heckuva lot about it.
Here’s our phone conversation on Wednesday.
Listen
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