Part of the roof covering at Green Lake's former curling rink was blown off Monday. (submitted photo/Matt Ryan)

By Angela Brown

Structure damage

Green Lake curling rink’s tin on roof blown off by high winds

Apr 18, 2023 | 12:29 PM

A gust of high winds blew off part of the roof covering of Green Lake’s former curling rink Monday.

Dustin Fidler, administrator for the Northern Village of Green Lake, said he was surprised with the force of the winds.

Between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. strong winds came into the area and impacted the back of the structure that’s owned by the Northern Village of Green Lake.

“The wind got pretty heavy, and it blew the tin off the roof on our curling rink,” Fidler said. “It’s not the whole roof [that came off], it’s the tin part. But it did rip everything off pretty well. It just left about a strip and a half maybe.”

Plans are to make some quick repairs today to have the roof covered again.

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The village didn’t receive any reports of anything else damaged in the area.

Fidler said the curling rink is not active currently, and hasn’t been used for its purpose in at least 10 years, as it needs a lot of upgrades.

However, he said the village is looking at rejuvenating the facility in the future, so it can be used for curling again at some point.

“We’re going to try to revive [it], now that we have new management in town,” Fidler said.

The building is currently just being used for storage.

Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told meadowlakeNOW, looking at the Meadow Lake Weather Station where weather in the area is monitored, winds on Monday gusted as high as 70 km/h in the area.

“I’m wondering if there was any kind of funneling [of wind gusts] that may have taken place in and around [the Green Lake area],” she said. “When winds get funnelled through a valley or across a lake they can speed up.”

Lang said there can start to be damage to property with winds that high, but she is surprised by the amount of damage that happened to the curling rink’s tin roof covering.

“[But] sometimes if the wind can get under and catch a corner, it can peel it back like a sardine tin,” she said. “There must have been something local, a funneling of the winds. The winds were quite strong yesterday.”

Looking ahead, Lang said there is a weather system coming into the province, with more wind and precipitation Wednesday.

“Anytime we get any of these strong low-pressure systems that come through, we know they can create a lot of wind,” she said. “But it shouldn’t be as bad through that area. Most of the wind will be farther south, so not as windy for sure.”

The Meadow Lake and Green Lake area might see a couple centimetres of snow at the most.

“It will probably be a rain-snow mix,… with winds probably gusting as high as 40 km/h,” Lang said.

For the Battlefords, the area is forecast to see a bit more wind, gusting as high as 50 km/h, and about five cm of snow, on Wednesday.

“The further south and east you go, that will increase the amount of snow you’ll get,” Lang said. “Definitely, tomorrow it’s going to be a bit of a bad travel day for people if they have plans. So, they might want to postpone their travel.”

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @meadowlakeNOW