Recalling the 2007 Saskatoon blizzard when stranded people camped out in Costco
This Day In Weather History is a daily podcast by Chris Mei from The Weather Network, featuring stories about people, communities and events and how weather impacted them.
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On January 10, 2007, a blizzard hit northeastern British Columbia, central Alberta, and central Saskatchewan, but most notably pummelled Saskatoon. The Saskatchewan Blizzard of 2007 is considered to be one of the worst storms in the province's history.
On the 10th, which was a Wednesday, 36 cm of snow fell on Saskatoon. This amount shattered the previous record of 10.2 cm in 1938.
It was also a windy and cold storm. The wind blew the snow, creating whiteout conditions. The wind chills also made the temperature feel like an unbearable -46°C.
Blizzard in Saskatoon, Jan. 10, 2007. Courtesy of Drm310/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0
There was so much snow that many roads were not operational. Unionized snowplow operators were on strike, but returned to work for the sake of public safety.
People were stranded wherever they were so many public services could not open. Public schools and the University of Saskatchewan shut down.
Stranded travellers and residents could not drive home so they stayed at hotels. Once this hotel filled up, people started to camp out overnight in retail spaces like Costco.
There were many road accidents and stranded motorists. Saskatoon's cellular network was overloaded with calls, so the fire department urged the public to only use their cells in emergency situations.
There were two fatalities from the storm, an 18-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman. They died of hypothermia while they were trying to walk from their vehicle to their home.
To hear more about the Saskatchewan Blizzard of 2007, listen to today's episode of "This Day In Weather History."
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