Man did the wind ever howl last night. It did peak over 75 mph here last night. Up in Cape Breton they recorded winds of 132 mph. YIKES!! We got about 16 inches of snow but is hard to tell as it blew around so much. Some roads and fields are bare as they were swept clean by the wind. Over on Prince Edward Island they got 21 inches and the Confederation Bridge to the island was shut down to all traffic yesterday until sometime today. It is not uncommon for the bridge to close to high-sided vehicles like trucks etc but VERY unusual to be closed to all traffic. The Trans Canada Highway between Moncton New Brunswick and Amherst Nova Scotia was closed late yesterday until sometime today. It traverses the Tantramar Marsh, part of the world's largest salt marsh and is W-I-D-E open and flat for miles and miles in all directions. RCMP determined it was just too unsafe to travel due to whiteout conditions.
On the good side roads are really good and mostly bare this morning as the lack of traffic kept the snow from being packed down and the plows were able to clean the roads off good. That and the strong sun shining today had what little was left on the roads melted off in short order except in areas where the snow was constantly blowing across the road. This morning I took the truck out for a drive. This the second winter I had it and I hadn't yet had a chance to see what it would do in the deep snow. We just didn't get any great amount until now or in areas where it had drifted in were cleaned up before I had a chance to try it out. I was impressed with it to say the least. I knew of a few small rural roads that would not be plowed until late so I headed out to check them out. I just left it in two wheel drive and started through the drifts. I was not driving like an idiot through them but just at a decent pace. Several times it was dragging yet still made it through. I only switched to four wheel drive a couple times but only after bogging out and coming to a stop. In one case I went through one huge drift at the top of a hill that I had just traveled up through deep snow and saw even deeper snow in front of me....well after hitting the wipers as snow had flown up all over the windshield blinding me. I plowed through that and then stopped in the middle of the road.Something did not look right. I decided to turn around and go back as I thought there might be a car under the huge pile of snow in the road. Later I went back and found out there was no car but rather a nearly 6 foot high drift in the road. DOT had to use a loader to clear it out. Good thing I did not venture into it. LOL
The truck is a 2012 Toyota Tundra Crew Max with stock size 275/65R18 winter tires on it. I am quite impressed with Toyota's active traction control system as it was a lot better in 2WD than I ever thought it would be. I'm not a gear head mind you and not into lift kits and over sized tires and pounding through the mud and swamps etc but nevertheless was quite impressed with what it will do in normal everyday situations that one may expect if caught on the roads during a major storm.
On the good side roads are really good and mostly bare this morning as the lack of traffic kept the snow from being packed down and the plows were able to clean the roads off good. That and the strong sun shining today had what little was left on the roads melted off in short order except in areas where the snow was constantly blowing across the road. This morning I took the truck out for a drive. This the second winter I had it and I hadn't yet had a chance to see what it would do in the deep snow. We just didn't get any great amount until now or in areas where it had drifted in were cleaned up before I had a chance to try it out. I was impressed with it to say the least. I knew of a few small rural roads that would not be plowed until late so I headed out to check them out. I just left it in two wheel drive and started through the drifts. I was not driving like an idiot through them but just at a decent pace. Several times it was dragging yet still made it through. I only switched to four wheel drive a couple times but only after bogging out and coming to a stop. In one case I went through one huge drift at the top of a hill that I had just traveled up through deep snow and saw even deeper snow in front of me....well after hitting the wipers as snow had flown up all over the windshield blinding me. I plowed through that and then stopped in the middle of the road.Something did not look right. I decided to turn around and go back as I thought there might be a car under the huge pile of snow in the road. Later I went back and found out there was no car but rather a nearly 6 foot high drift in the road. DOT had to use a loader to clear it out. Good thing I did not venture into it. LOL
The truck is a 2012 Toyota Tundra Crew Max with stock size 275/65R18 winter tires on it. I am quite impressed with Toyota's active traction control system as it was a lot better in 2WD than I ever thought it would be. I'm not a gear head mind you and not into lift kits and over sized tires and pounding through the mud and swamps etc but nevertheless was quite impressed with what it will do in normal everyday situations that one may expect if caught on the roads during a major storm.
