The Mother Nature Contingency

[Roy N.]

Mother Nature ... gotta love her!

In the past 10-days we've received 36+ inches of snow, which is above normal for this early in the winter (Jan & Feb are usually the big snow months). In addition to the snow, we received about 36hrs of freezing rain on he 22nd & 23rd which put a 1/2" layer of ice on the snow that was already down.

The ice sidelined three blowers from our snow removal service {I think someone was using regular 5/16" bolts and not shear pins} and put them hopelessly behind on snow removal ... to the point where we had to bring in someone else to get the job done.

Across our multi-units, each snowfall represents $175 in snow removal charges (our student houses are responsible for their own snow removal) based on actuals from past years, we budget $500/mth from December to April for snow removal. We are already 50% over budget for December and another 6" are forecast for Monday :-|

At this rate, we're on a curve for a 4-5K winter ... yet another reason you need to maintain adequate contingencies!

[Matthew Paul]

I am loading up my plow trucks , bobcat , and snow blowers , Snow is white gold .

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

@Roy N.

Excellent Point! While I miss snow, I do not miss the bill :)

[Roy N.]

6 inches my @$$!!!

This morning we awoke to 12-14" of fresh snow ... being off by 100% is apparently fine for the meteorological service. But, 6" or 14" it's still $175 to clear the multis, so I guess we got our money's worth this morning.

Our "new" snow removal service called when they were finished to report all properties had been cleared (I had asked them to clear the student houses, in preparation for their return this weekend) and that they had hooked a brand-new window well we installed in August at one of the house (which would only be a $100-$150 and an afternoon of digging next spring if it weren't for the fact we paved the drive this autumn). They also informed us that we are 1-2 snowfalls from being out of space to pile the snow at two properties (translation: a loader and dump truck will be required to remove it).

Of course, now that we are dug out, the weather is to turn cold {highs of -17C (0F)} for the remainder of the week, meaning I won't even get to enjoy {XC} skiing on all this new snow.

[Roy N.]

Our weather is about to take a turn for the strange ...

Today it as still cold, -20C (-4F) with a windchill effective temperature of -34C (-29F) and I, along with a crew of 3 others, spent the day clearing snow off roofs.

Roofs around here are designed to handle snow loads exceeding the ~4' (30" compacted) of snow we received last month. We also had 36 hours of freezing rain (~1") on December 23rd, making the snow a little heaver than usual.

However, we have a freakish weather system headed our way on Monday: 8-10C (46-50F) with 20-40mm (0.8 - 1.6") of rain. This much moisture soaking into 30" of snow could lead to some roof issues ... not to mention the creation of ice dams and backing of water under the shingles.

We finished three roofs today and have four to complete tomorrow. On top of the seven our crew is handling, there are two others we've farmed out to another outfit. It is going to cost us $800-$1000 by the time all the roofs are cleared

I haven't been this tired, or sore, in a longtime .

[Roy N.]

An update on the bizarre mood of Mother Nature this winter.

When I posted my previous note (Jan 04), we were anticipating a bit of warm weather and we got it. We had two weeks of temperatures reaching above 0C (32F) - with one day hitting 12C (54F) - and it rained warm water for 3-4 days in a row. The result was we lost 2/3 to 3/4 of the nearly 4' of snow that had accumulated through December and early Jan.

This turned out to be a good thing as February and early March brought another 3' - 4' of snowfall. Finally, March went out like a lion with another 12" of wet, heavy snow on the 31st.

Our April Fool's joke this morning was waking to another 12-14" of fresh snow this morning.

We have 2+ story snow piles at three of our properties and have two loads of snow hauled away from other properties where there simply was no more space.

Factoring in today's efforts, our snow removal costs this winter are just over 3800.00 ... and that is not counting the pass through clearing at our SFHs when the tenants called to surrender to Old Man Winter. We are close to 100% over last year's snow removal costs ... and hoping we are finally finished.

[Matthew Paul]

I am on the other end , I own snow removal equipment ..........I think I will buy another property this spring , for cash . I LOVE snow .

[Michele Fischer]

Wow, Roy, you and I are having very expensive starts to 2014, for different reasons. Hope things settle down for both of us soon.

[Roy N.]

Originally posted by @Matthew Paul:

I am on the other end , I own snow removal equipment ..........I think I will buy another property this spring , for cash . I LOVE snow .

Matt:

Around here it's the guys who clear roofs who have perma-smiles this winter!

The guys ploughing are doing fine, but those running lighter equipment (i.e. pickups with ploughs, garden tractors with buckets or blowers) are having a lot of equipment failure.

[Matthew Paul]

Thats the nature of equipment , it only breaks when you need it most .

[Roy N.]

Originally posted by @Michele Fischer:

Wow, Roy, you and I are having very expensive starts to 2014, for different reasons. Hope things settle down for both of us soon.

Michele:

Our next adventure will be when all this snow decides to leave. The long range forecast indicated it going to suddenly be spring on April 13 - temperatures are suppose to be 10 - 15C (50 - 60F) for highs with lows above freezing ... and rain. We could end-up with water issues like we had in 2008 when the river rose 27 feet in a week.

[Roy N.]

I thought I would resuscitate the budget contingency for Mother Nature thread after the passing of tropical storm Arthur this past Saturday (2014.07.05).

In my last update, we had just finished our "snowiest" winter in over a decade and, at its end, our snow removal costs were up 90% year-over-year.   "Fortunately" we had a cool and late spring and the 3'+ feet of snow that remained in early April was able to melt gradually.  As a result, the spring freshet brought only normal levels of flooding.

But now, we find ourselves in the midst of summer with the first hurricane of the season arriving at these latitudes almost two months ahead of schedule.  Fortunately Arthur was merely a tropical storm when he arrived in Atlantic Canada, but with sustained winds of 80kph (50mph) and gusts to 125kph (80mph), hundreds of trees in the City were toppled - and, along with them, many power lines, several vehicles and a few roofs.

Amongst our properties, we have four fallen trees (one large elm, that must be hundreds of years old).  We lost a fence to the trees, but were fortunate to not have had a direct hit on a building.  One of my neighbours, was less fortunate:

when the elm in-front of their duplex toppled and took the corner of the house (roof and upper veranda) with it.  It also snapped two telephone poles like kindling and flattened a car.

Three of our buildings remain without power and, according to the utility, may be that way until mid-week.  We have brought a generator into the multi, and coolers of ice to the student houses (however, this morning, I was unable to find additional blocks of ice).

I have called two arbor services for quotes on removing the trees.  As you can imagine, they are busy assisting the Power Utility to restore service and probably will not get to us before the end-of-the-week.  

Based upon past experience with tree removal, I'm bracing for a 2-3K price tag to clean-up.  Mother Nature is turning out to be high maintenance this year.

[Steve Babiak]

Don't be surprised if the tree experts are backed up for quite a while; you aren't the only customer awaiting them after the utility companies are made happy. Earlier this year it took two to three weeks to just get estimates near me, and then scheduling work was another few weeks in the future - all a result of more snow and ice than usual and the aftermath of that this past winter. 

[Roy N.]

@Steve Babiak 

I should have been more clear.  It will be the end of the week before I am able to get a quote, middle of next week before I am sure to have them all.

You are correct, it could be August before they come and remove my trees.  Though we have one that is hung-up on an adjacent tree and needs to come down before we get any more wind.   I may tend to that one this evening.

[Simon Lloyd]

Wow, so sorry to hear that @Roy N. .  Mother Nature certainly hasn't been kind this year...just a few weeks ago a severe tornado hit just a couple miles from my flip property (which was fully complete at the time, awaiting closing. That would've been depressing!). Looks like Arthur has done nearly as much damage in your neck of the woods. Scary. 

Best of luck with the cleanup. Our thoughts from Ontario are with you. 

[Roy N.]

All,

It seems like only yesterday, I was posting about our $5K snow removal costs for Winter 2013-2014.

Yesterday was our first encounter with Winter 2014-2015, leaving us with ~6" of very we snow ... schools are closed, most folks were caught w/o their winter tyres mounted (I put a set on one of our vehicles on Saturday evening, but have yet to do the other).  

Unfortunately, it was enough snowfall that we had to clear drives this morning, despite temperatures returning to 9-12C (48 - 54 F) mid-week.  A month ahead of schedule and already $200 into our snow removal budget ;)