Calgary Herald articles today - altitude and weather!
This fabulous nose-down Greyhound "Hunter" earned a TD in the Alberta Beach test two weekends ago. The warm, dry weather did not bother him one bit as he calmly found every leg of the track to the end. ' Windwood Distant Orion FCH' handled by very proud owner Vicki Averill of Maple Ridge BC passed under judge Erich Kunzel. I can only find a record of one other TD Greyhound in Canada, named Rosie, from Sudbury.This is great weather to be a Greyhound, read on!!
Caden follows a track on the "lawn" boulevard heading onto a parking lot...One day after typing the post below about my game plan with River, these two articles were in the Calgary Herald online. The first is about the Calgary Marathon and the altitude being a factor for a runner from Ontario. The second is a weather prediction for the summer (warm and dry)...
Altitude's impact on athletes...
Torontonian defies altitude to win Calgary Marathon
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Torontonian+defies+altitude+Calgary+Marathon/1649398/story.html
By Kristen Odland, Calgary HeraldJune 1, 2009
CALGARY - The altitude hit Predrag Mladenovic quicker than he thought.
Only two kilometres into Sunday’s 45th annual HSBC Calgary Marathon, the Serbian-born professional runner felt the elevation change from Toronto, his home for the past seven years.
It was the 37-year-old’s first time racing in Calgary, 1,048 metres above sea level, and he knew the rest of the race was going to hurt.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Mladenovic, who, regardless, was the first to finish the 42.2-kilometre circuit Sunday. “I really felt it from the start. After two-K, my legs worked well, but I couldn’t breathe. [Donna's note - this is what I think might have been impacting River!]
“I was tired after 10-Ks and I had 32-K more,” said Mladenovic, who motored through a new course to top the field of about 1,350.
The fresh circuit design was one of several changes this year, the biggest of which was switching the race to Sunday from the event’s traditional time during the Calgary Stampede in July.
He crossed the finish line at Bridgeland’s Murdoch Park in two hours, 30 minutes and 15 seconds — significantly slower than his personal best, which was a 2:23:16 he clocked in the 2007 Mississauga Marathon.
“I was surprised,” said Mladenovic, who was cheered at the finish by a handful of his friends from Europe now living in Calgary.
“I couldn’t believe how I feel here . . . it feels like it’s 2,000 or 3,000 metres.” (more if you click on the link above...)
Altitude's impact on athletes...
Torontonian defies altitude to win Calgary Marathon
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Torontonian+defies+altitude+Calgary+Marathon/1649398/story.html
By Kristen Odland, Calgary HeraldJune 1, 2009
CALGARY - The altitude hit Predrag Mladenovic quicker than he thought.
Only two kilometres into Sunday’s 45th annual HSBC Calgary Marathon, the Serbian-born professional runner felt the elevation change from Toronto, his home for the past seven years.
It was the 37-year-old’s first time racing in Calgary, 1,048 metres above sea level, and he knew the rest of the race was going to hurt.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Mladenovic, who, regardless, was the first to finish the 42.2-kilometre circuit Sunday. “I really felt it from the start. After two-K, my legs worked well, but I couldn’t breathe. [Donna's note - this is what I think might have been impacting River!]
“I was tired after 10-Ks and I had 32-K more,” said Mladenovic, who motored through a new course to top the field of about 1,350.
The fresh circuit design was one of several changes this year, the biggest of which was switching the race to Sunday from the event’s traditional time during the Calgary Stampede in July.
He crossed the finish line at Bridgeland’s Murdoch Park in two hours, 30 minutes and 15 seconds — significantly slower than his personal best, which was a 2:23:16 he clocked in the 2007 Mississauga Marathon.
“I was surprised,” said Mladenovic, who was cheered at the finish by a handful of his friends from Europe now living in Calgary.
“I couldn’t believe how I feel here . . . it feels like it’s 2,000 or 3,000 metres.” (more if you click on the link above...)
Caden continues along a painted line in the parking lot...Weather prediction for Alberta...
Weatherman predicts hot, dry summer for Alberta
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Life/Weatherman+predicts+summer+Alberta/1642075/story.html
Weatherman predicts hot, dry summer for Alberta
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Life/Weatherman+predicts+summer+Alberta/1642075/story.html
By Nick Lewis, Calgary HeraldMay 29, 2009
CALGARY - It's going to be a hot, dry summer in Alberta, The Weather Network predicts, and that's great news to the millions of Albertans worn from an extended winter, and bad news for the hundreds of farmers who need precipitation for their crops.
The network expects a fairly typical summer for our province, stretches of warm days interrupted by occasional cold spells and thunderstorms. But the Prairies have the potential for drier-than-normal conditions, and northern Alberta will have above-normal temperatures.
"What we see in Alberta typically are stretches of heat for a few days and then things cool down," said meteorologist Chris Scott. "So expect those days where it's going to be hot and you're going to wish you had a pool, but also expect those chilly nights you get in the Prairies when the sun goes down. With the ups and downs, we'll average out to normal."
Normal sounds pretty good to the ice cream man. "Hot weather is great for us. We've been busy since the May long week-end," said Joseph Yoon, owner of My Favourite Ice Cream Shoppe in Marda Loop. "Nobody wants ice cream in cold weather, so this is absolutely good news for us. It's going to be a hectic summer."
Ismet Ozkan, owner of Red Mile Ice Cream on 17th Avenue S. W., agreed: "The heat is good."
A warm forecast bodes well for the nearly two dozen golf courses dotted around the city, and municipal golf courses spokeswoman April Tanner says nothing sells tee times like the promise of sunshine.
"We're a business entirely dependent on the weather, and when the weather is good, as it has been this week, tee times are booked up back-to-back,"she said. "When the weather's bad, you can literally shoot a cannon through our courses. And we can't make up those dates because there's a very limited season for golf in Calgary."
But what's ideal for the greens isn't ideal for crops.
Ralph Wright, head of the soil moisture unit at Alberta Agriculture, said farmers may face a challenge if the forecast proves true, since there is already a low amount of moisture in the soil.
"What we're hoping for is normal or above-normal precipitation in June and July, because we didn't get it in May,"he said. "May's been a below-normal month. What this means is farmers are more reliant this year on well-timed precipitation amounts, because we already have a deficit of soil moisture.
"The soil moisture content is basically a bank account that you can draw from to withstand the hot dry weather that may come--and it's not there. Couple that with the forecast of a hot, dry summer, and it's not a pretty picture."
A hot, dry summer may also lead to more hailstorms and brush fires.
"Hail is a big problem, and a major hailstorm is one of the greatest threats to Calgarians in terms of damage to property," Scott said.
"Even if the forecast for the sum-mer seems benign, on any given day, you could still have a rip-roaring storm that could cause damage."
But Scott said farmers and other Albertans needn't worry just yet.
"With these seasonal forecasts, they're much more tricky than a next-day forecast," he said.
"We're detectives in meteorology, and we're looking for clues, and often those clues are a lot harder to find and don't give us the exact answer. . . . We're going to have a typical Canadian summer. And you better enjoy it, coz winter's just around the corner."
nlewis@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
CALGARY - It's going to be a hot, dry summer in Alberta, The Weather Network predicts, and that's great news to the millions of Albertans worn from an extended winter, and bad news for the hundreds of farmers who need precipitation for their crops.
The network expects a fairly typical summer for our province, stretches of warm days interrupted by occasional cold spells and thunderstorms. But the Prairies have the potential for drier-than-normal conditions, and northern Alberta will have above-normal temperatures.
"What we see in Alberta typically are stretches of heat for a few days and then things cool down," said meteorologist Chris Scott. "So expect those days where it's going to be hot and you're going to wish you had a pool, but also expect those chilly nights you get in the Prairies when the sun goes down. With the ups and downs, we'll average out to normal."
Normal sounds pretty good to the ice cream man. "Hot weather is great for us. We've been busy since the May long week-end," said Joseph Yoon, owner of My Favourite Ice Cream Shoppe in Marda Loop. "Nobody wants ice cream in cold weather, so this is absolutely good news for us. It's going to be a hectic summer."
Ismet Ozkan, owner of Red Mile Ice Cream on 17th Avenue S. W., agreed: "The heat is good."
A warm forecast bodes well for the nearly two dozen golf courses dotted around the city, and municipal golf courses spokeswoman April Tanner says nothing sells tee times like the promise of sunshine.
"We're a business entirely dependent on the weather, and when the weather is good, as it has been this week, tee times are booked up back-to-back,"she said. "When the weather's bad, you can literally shoot a cannon through our courses. And we can't make up those dates because there's a very limited season for golf in Calgary."
But what's ideal for the greens isn't ideal for crops.
Ralph Wright, head of the soil moisture unit at Alberta Agriculture, said farmers may face a challenge if the forecast proves true, since there is already a low amount of moisture in the soil.
"What we're hoping for is normal or above-normal precipitation in June and July, because we didn't get it in May,"he said. "May's been a below-normal month. What this means is farmers are more reliant this year on well-timed precipitation amounts, because we already have a deficit of soil moisture.
"The soil moisture content is basically a bank account that you can draw from to withstand the hot dry weather that may come--and it's not there. Couple that with the forecast of a hot, dry summer, and it's not a pretty picture."
A hot, dry summer may also lead to more hailstorms and brush fires.
"Hail is a big problem, and a major hailstorm is one of the greatest threats to Calgarians in terms of damage to property," Scott said.
"Even if the forecast for the sum-mer seems benign, on any given day, you could still have a rip-roaring storm that could cause damage."
But Scott said farmers and other Albertans needn't worry just yet.
"With these seasonal forecasts, they're much more tricky than a next-day forecast," he said.
"We're detectives in meteorology, and we're looking for clues, and often those clues are a lot harder to find and don't give us the exact answer. . . . We're going to have a typical Canadian summer. And you better enjoy it, coz winter's just around the corner."
nlewis@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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