As you are no doubt aware, southern Alberta has been deluged with rain this past week, leading to unprecedented flooding. Canmore was not spared and parts of the town suffered serious damage. The rain began onWednesday night, June 19 and continued to fall heavily until Friday afternoon, June 21. During this time we received over 200 mm of precipitation (about 8 inches). The weather has settled and the town has begun its recovery. We’re awaiting the re-opening of the Trans-Canada Highway, currently closed to the east and west of Canmore due to washouts and mudslides. It’s unclear when the highway will re-open: until then we’re stranded. Not so bad. Essential services are being maintained, including the stocking of grocery store shelves.
The first sign of recovery was the sun striving to break through on Friday afternoon. We’ve had sunny skies since then, interspersed with periods of cloudiness. With so much moisture in the air, we’ve seen some amazing skies and patches of low lying mist. I’ve chosen to share some photographs of those skies in today’s blog.
The first photograph was taken on Friday afternoon at the home of friends Nancy and Dave Foreman, who reside near the bank of the Bow River. This was the first view we had of blue sky and the mountains since they became enveloped in the pervasive clouds of this week’s storm. As you can see, the mountains received a fresh mantle of snow since the precipitation fell as snow at higher elevations.
My next picture was taken yesterday afternoon, Thursday. It features Mount Rundle, photographed from our rear deck. This scene got my attention, drawn by the banks of mist settled in the canyons running up the mountainside.
A while later, I captured this shot, also of Mount Rundle, at sunset. Note the heavy bank of mist, seemingly stuck on the summit of the East End of Rundle.
This morning, the mountains were entirely out of sight, covered with a heavy bank of cloud. For a short while, Mount Rundle poked through the mist and I was able to get the following picture.
I’ve chosen not to publish pictures of the flooding itself, the internet is “flooded” with those and those who’ve seen them have probably had enough. If you haven’t seen them and you’d like to, you can search “Canmore Flood 2013”.
Great shots Peter, refreshing to see after all the images of destruction and carnage we have been looking at lately.
Terry
Like the mountains they cloak, the cloud patterns are never the same from moment to moment in this part of the world. Views generally better with clouds. Nice job of capturing examples of the above.