Yeah, they get them. Mountains to the West, and all. They aren’t nearly as common as they are down South, though.
The other side to the Chinook is the crushing Chinook sinus headache.
Yeah, I forgot about that :smack: . And you’re right - it sucks.
Born in Edmonton, lived in Alberta until I left for University almost 20 years ago, and I go back every so often to visit family.
My view of Edmonton is a bit skewed I think because my family never lived in any of the nicer areas, but a lot of the residential areas are damn ugly. These awful little stucco houses coated with 50 years of dirt and exhaust. If they want to get fancy, the stucco will have some bits of broken colored glass mixed in.
When I lived there, much of the downtown seemed pretty grubby, but that was a long time ago and it sounds like it is much improved now.
Not to mention when the Chinook blows out, the temperature drops as rapidly as it rose. I went to the U of C one day when it was 14 or so out and left - in a snowstorm and -5 winds. I hadn’t even put boots on because it had been so warm earlier. And the winter never gets cold and stays cold. It’s warm then cold then warm so they don’t bother plowing many of the residential streets, figuring a Chinook will come and melt the snow. You can’t put your fall stuff away and it can and will snow in September and June. At least back East, it snows no earlier than October and quits in March or the beginning of April.
Hated Calgary weather. And dry! I went through huge bottles of Jergens. I’d wake up in the middle of the night with my skin itching furiously from dryness - after I’d bathed in lotion and spread more on. I had to take antihistamines. Gah.
I thought E-ton got no or very few Chinooks compared with Cowtown.
When I told my mom I had applied for a job in Edmonton, she was delighted, as she has fond memories of her grandparent’s house there. I suspect it is no longer the city it was then.
KSO, here are the links I am using for my Canadian job search:
Canada Job Bank
Monster
workopolis
May I ask what has inspired this potential move?
I don’t know that I’d say Edmonton gets Chinooks. Lethbridge gets Chinooks big time. Calgary, to a lesser degree. Edmonton, not so much. In Chinook country, you don’t get snow buildup over the winter - the regular Chinooks prevent the snow cover from accumulating. In Edmonton, we get winter-long snow accumulations on a regular basis.
We may get the occasional one, but they are pretty rare and not nearly as powerful as they are down south. Lethbridge could go from -20 to +15 C in a few hours when a Chinook blows in. The downside is that it’s windy. Edmonton is much calmer, and without the wide temperature variation.
I’d downplay the crime stats somewhat since most of it is gang related or domestic, not the random stuff. You get the occasional swarming like the fellow who was knifed near Whyte Ave or the teen at the hall birthday party or the guy beaten to death on the bus but generally you feel very safe living here.
It’s an excellent cultural city with many good ethnic restaurants and some great summer festivals. There’s more retail here per capita than almost anywhere else in Canada; we need the malls in order to survive shopping in winter.
It’s always been my home and I love it. Oh yeah, the mayor is a real character, I used to play ball with him in a fun league.