Waist-deep snow and jokes about a new 'ice age' in Saskatchewan
In 1982, freak snowstorm hit southwest part of province on last weekend in May
Summer was barely three weeks away. And yet, you still needed your snow shovel if you were living in Saskatchewan.
"[An] ice age is coming," Lydia Geiger, a bundled-up resident of Maple Creek, Sask., told The National back on May 30, 1982, when dealing with the fallout from the snowstorm the day before.
"We're gonna be freezin' up in the summertime."
Geiger was joking, but you could see what she was getting at, given that parts of the province were waist-deep in snow.
"What a hell of a country," said Geiger, who was outside with a hacksaw, dealing with the damage the storm had wrought on her favourite tree.
The snow blanketed the southwest part of the province on a weekend, which is why those unlucky Saskatchewanians were breaking out their snow shovels on a Sunday.
The storm had struck the day before, leaving many towns in the region without power.
"Oh yeah, this whole section about 25 miles down here, there's no power," a utility worker told The National.
It had also closed a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Swift Current, Sask., where a CBC camera spotted a car that had slid into the ditch with a canoe strapped to its roof — a likely signal that the person driving that car hadn't been expecting a snowfall.
According to what the CBC's George Gallant reported on the day of the storm, that section of highway had been blocked for hours as crews tried to clear stranded vehicles. Fortunately, no major crashes were reported.
