oceanMDX

I've never seen a tick in my life in Canada although we certainly have them. They can weaken and contribute to moose mortality in the winter.

The real issue of concern regarding ticks is Lyme disease.

http://www.canlyme.com/ticks.html

joggerjo

I have just looked at that website and can't stop sratching and itching now!!!!!! Yuck! I wonder if we should just stamp concrete the whole garden/yard!!!!!!!!!!

JJ

Karate Kev

Well guys, it's great to hear from you all again - oceanMDX, ukjo, joggerjo, smokey - and it's also nice to make the aquantance of some new names too.

The main reason i ain't been around lately, is 'cos i'v been doing cr*p-loads of research about what will hopefully become our new home - specifically about the schooling for Josh and certain special-needs required.

Also, i'v been getting all the info together which is required by our migration-agent in order to fill our forms in for us. I guess it all takes time.

I notice we have a Simonhouse and a Glaswegian on this thread, and i notice they're both from Calgary. Well guys, now that CalgaryAMC has moved south, don't be suprised if i pick your brains as i did his, from time to time... if you don't mind.

But i must say, i was a little suprised to hear that my proposed settlement city had also recieved it's fair share of rain. Someone once said that there's very little rain in Alberta, and the sun usually shines - even in winter. Pleeeeease don't tell me they were telling porkies!!

Kev.

corbyn10

We are in Vancouver and it's bl**dy hot here 25 degrees and hotter every day

simonhouse

It's supposed to be a dry dusty city in the summer (and it was when I first moved here) but recently the grass and trees are so lush green, they tell the story of just how much rain has fallen on the city recently.

However, the weather this week has been very pleasant, and I am starting to get reasonable tan just by walking around with my daughter

Ed_and_Karen

I've been in Edmonton for about 3 months now and the weather is freaky. It goes from blistering hot to hail and thunderstorms. Extreme to say the least!

At the weekend we had the mother of all storms - plus three tornado warnings (fortunately not in my area!). I've never seen anything like it. The hail came down so fast we had to pull off the freeway - simply couldn't see a thing. Fork lightning every twenty seconds. Got home to find the basement under six inches of water where the drains backed up - they simply couldn't cope. There was so much hail it looked like snow everywhere. Rubbish was floating around in the flooded streets and cars and trucks were left all over the place. They evacuated 30,000 people from the West Edmonton Mall because the hail cracked the roof. It was wicked.

Today it's blistering hot. Severe storms are forecast tonight but Sunday should be a lovely 32 degrees!!

Billy Connelly once said about Scotland, if you don't like the weather just hang about a bit 'cos it will change soon. Feels a bit like that at the moment!!

Ed.

Glaswegian

Welcome to Alberta, it's like this all of the time.

Wait until the winter - Alberta gets SERIOUSLY freaky winter weather.

The snow comes, the snow goes, the snow comes again, the snow goes again - we get about nine months of that.

Edmonton doesn't get the chinooks as badly as Calgary - I remember leaving Calgary in March wearing shorts and arriving to find snow & ice in Edmonton.

oceanMDX

Calgary is not a "dry dusty city in the summer" - whoever told you that is misinformed. The countryside around Calgary can be dry and dusty in the spring until the rain in May and early June greens things up.

In the summer, Calgary is always quite green. Not to the extent of Halifax, Montreal, Toronto or especially Vancouver, but Calgary is nice and green in the summer - not dry and dusty!

Glaswegian

It's been green in early summer for the last couple of years, usually it lasts until around August when the June moisture runs and everything starts to dry to a crisp.

However, Calgary does tend to be dusty all year round - People from other parts of Canada remark on it.

oceanMDX

Welcome to Alberta! The large continental land mass (too far from the ocean for the water to moderate the temperature) and the distance from the equator cause the weather to be very extreme and erratic.

Just keep in mind that that was one of Edmonton's worst weather events ever.

simonhouse

I wish I took some pics back in 2002. It was very dry and dusty - the grass was really quite lifeless.

Even my inlaws are commenting on the same thing, and they have been here.. well forever!

oceanMDX

When Canadians talk about Calgary being dusty, they are speaking in relative terms to other parts of Canada. That doesn't mean that Calgary gets little to no rain. Southern Ontario is wetter than southern Alberta, and the rain keeps down the dust. Due to agricultural activity that occurs around Calgary, dust in the fields is blown by the winds into the city and it collects on the furniture faster than in some other Canadian cities.

Here are the rain/snow stats for Calgary:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/wea...2.htm?CAAB0049

Glaswegian

Dust collects fast here - if you don't move you car for a few days, you can't see through the windows.

Driving back into Calgary, you can see a the very obvious dust line across the horizon.

oceanMDX

Yes, but that was an anomaly. Southern Alberta had never been drier. 2002 broke the drought records that were set back in the 1930's (aka the dirty 30s). Hay for the livestock had to be shipped all the way from Ontario! That has never occured before in history.

oceanMDX

No! That's not a dust line!!! It's smog that can occur especially during an inversion.