Really cold weather, then lots of snow!

Well, the deep freeze cold snap is gone, but today I was surprised to see how much snow was on the drive way! At 3 pm, there was just some snow blowing around. At 9 pm, when we went out to shovel it, there was like 30 cm accumulated! The forecast was only for 5 cm, but this is usually the case (on my drive way, there is 4-5X what the forecast said). Even our neighbor across the street was asking her son : "When did all this snow fall!". Quite surprising.As for the cold snap, even long time Canadians complained that it was cold!More snow is forecast for the next few days, and then another cold snap is expected mid week!Here is a Reuters news article on the past cold snap:

Eastern Canada Gripped by Deep Freeze for 2nd DayFri Jan 9, 3:02 PM ETTORONTO (Reuters) - Eastern Canada shivered through a second day of freezing temperatures on Friday as energy demand soared and worries about deaths among homeless people heightened. In Ottawa and Montreal, temperatures dropped as low as -39 Celsius (-38F) overnight on Thursday. "In Ottawa, we are talking about a wind chill of -33C (-36F) tonight (Friday), and that can freeze flesh in about 10 minutes," said David Phillips, a senior climatologist at Environment Canada.The cold snap, which is expected to last until Sunday, has gripped the eastern half of the country with temperatures far lower than normal for this time of year.In Toronto, where the normal low is around -11C (12.2F), Thursday's low was -33C (-36F). That wasn't far off the -39C hit in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, which is Canada's coldest city, and which is situated just 3 degrees of latitude south of the Arctic Circle. The freezing temperatures drove demand for electricity to near-record levels in Quebec as heating systems were cranked up. The provincially owned utility, Hydro-Quebec, asked households and businesses to reduce power consumption to avoid overloading its power grid, already weakened by a damaged high-voltage line carrying power from northern hydro-electric dams. Hydro-Quebec said the morning peak period caused no problems and thanked customers for their restraint. In Toronto, where an average of 15 homeless people die from exposure each winter, social workers struggled to find shelter for all those who needed it. "Of course, if someone comes to the door, certainly let them in, but we have to try to find somewhere else for them to go," said Martin Baker, director of homeless initiatives at a downtown community center. In rural communities along the Atlantic Coast, some schools were closed due to poor driving conditions. Phillips said the cold weather and wind chill are a result of a confluence of high-pressure systems in northern Canada and low-pressure storms across the southern United States.