Storm-weary Islanders happy to get out of their houses — and their plows
Boyd MacDonald spent 9 hours in a plow after it got stuck in the snow this weekend
The weekend snowstorm that hit P.E.I. was a chance to watch movies, bake muffins and play in the snow.
Boyd MacDonald got to spend some down time as well — just not the way he'd imagined.
He spent nine hours twiddling his thumbs in his snowplow, waiting for help to arrive after it got stuck in Rollo Bay. He was able to chuckle about it on Monday, but hopes it's not something he'll ever have to do again.
"A good bunch of us got stuck through the whole day and so yeah, it was no fun."
Central and eastern parts of the Island were thumped with between 40 and 80 centimetres of snow this weekend, with high winds propelling drift after drift onto roads and highways starting Friday night.
MacDonald spent a lot of time in the plow, with 16-hour days Saturday and Sunday. He went into Bridgetown to get another plow after the first one got stuck in Rollo Bay, and said it took him more than two hours to get back to Souris — a drive of 10 to 15 minutes in normal conditions.
When that second plow got stuck, it was time to call it a day. He trudged a kilometre through the snowdrifts to make it safely home.
Along the way, he saw a shadow in the distance that turned out to be his neighbour coming to meet him.
"I was hoping it wasn't a coyote because [I] wouldn't have outrun it," he said.
MacDonald's area of eastern P.E.I. got the worst of the storm, the largest snowfall event in the province since 2015.
Charlottetown was on the lighter side at 50 to 60 centimetres, leaving many people stranded in their homes, trying to make the best of it.
Carol Moffatt took the time to do some baking, and spent part of Monday shovelling around her home and car.
"It is kind of nice to get outside. You know, you can get really cranky," she told a CBC News crew.
Whitney Paynter of Crapaud said her weekend was pretty simple: "Stuck inside watching movies, you can't go anywhere, it's not safe to."
One group of kids didn't seem to mind being stranded on P.E.I. The Cape Breton Islanders came to Charlottetown on Thursday for the Spud Minor Hockey Tournament. They ended up staying a day longer, playing mini sticks in the hotel hallways and climbing giant piles of snow in the parking lot.
"The weather's just crazy. Non-stop, snowing, ice. It crazy," said Cairan Clarke, who was outside burning off some energy with his teammates.
They were able to leave when the Confederation Bridge reopened to traffic Monday afternoon and the weather began to clear.
Environment Canada has officially ended its winter storm warning, but for MacDonald and the other P.E.I. snowplow drivers, there's plenty of work to be done clearing the roads and sidewalks.
"We'll be days digging this out. That's what we gotta do. So we're all ready."
With files from Kerry Campbell and Laura Meader