We had another big snow storm on Thursday - 19 cm (7.5“) at the Ottawa Airport. There’s now 24” of snow on the patio table in the back yard. I headed out to Smiths Falls this morning to clear the snow from in front of the hangar. I didn’t expect to get flying today, but you’ve got to keep on top of the snow if you want to keep the option open to fly later in the winter.

The storm had passed south of Ottawa, and I knew that the snow was worse to the south. As I feared, there had been quite a bit more snow in Smiths Falls than in Ottawa. I had to slog through knee deep snow to get to the hangar, and there was a four ft high drift at the corner of the hangar which I had to blast through with the snow blower. I’m sure glad I didn’t have to do this with a shovel!

The flying club snow crew were busy, but they clearly had many hours of work to go before the airfield would be open. The wind was straight across the runway, and was forecast to gust up to 25 kt this afternoon. Strong crosswind, slippery runway, and taildragger are not a good combination, so I didn’t bother hanging around after I had cleared the snow from in front of the hangar. The long range weather forecast suggests good weather later in the week, so I’m hoping to get airborne then.

Given the amount of snow we’ve had so far this winter, it is a good thing the flying club purchased this used Sicard Snowmaster blower in the fall. The previous, much older, Sicard blower had become a maintenance nightmare. This newer one seems to be a winner so far.