04 February, 2010

My second entry today - I must not get into the habit or I will be here all the time!

As a Canadian I find snow to be something I miss greatly while I am on deployment to UNTSO (United Nations Truce Supervision Organization) - however I suspect we are about to get our fill of that heavy wet snow. The locals are all quite excited as it also means more water in the reservoirs - and it is so dry here for the remainder of the year that water is THE issue.

It just keeps coming and coming. The mountain roads and passes will be closed to all but the heaviest of vehicles soon and not long after that it will possibly be tracked vehicles only.

The chapel at Camp Faouar from outside my office door - it was hard to see at one point as the snow was falling so hard. There is a small memorial at the baes of the chapel cross. There are about a dozen Canadian names on that memorial. Not one received much mention in Canada when they were killed while here on duty. I will put their names on this blog someday.

The parking lot is getting it's share of snow and the locals have pretty much stopped driving past the front gate. We are now in 4X4 mode when we leave the front gate.

And the snow keeps coming.

It is slowing down a bit and a patrol is ready to leave the front gate. Weather is expected to clear tomorrow and then we may get a repeat performance in a couple of days. It will be interesting. Be that as it may, there is a substantial amount of water that has now hit the ground and that is a good thing for next summer.

The roads are not impassable by Canadian standards. They are in very poor repair though, and this means that this much snow does increase the hazards of driving substantially. However, these conditions are darned close to what I have when I drive home to the farm every day at home. So not big deal other than what can lie hidden under the snow. Some of those things you do not want to drive on.