Shots of the Day: 22.02.08

I had the oppotunity on Wednesday to actually use the highways cameras to help me decide to drive to Fredericton. I checked in to see the condition of the highways using the highway cameras and based on the bright sunny weather and the clear pavement shown on the cameras I set out. What I discovered was that the night before there had been an unforecast 5 cm of snow that the Highway People decided to ignore. That meant that there was a slick and treacherous layer of packed snow on the highway in the Moncton area and though I never saw a salt truck or plow it only ended when I drove up onto the MRDC highway. After that is was clear wet pavement that you could drive on at regular highway speeds. I guess the disclaimer is necessary what the cameras show is not what you will experience.

The Moon was back in the frame over the highway at the Brun Way HWY95 X 540 camera.

And the planet was back over the Brun Way Quisbis Hill Camera.



In both cases the different times and locations for the appearance, location and setting of the object would make for an interesting exercise for a high school science class. The same would be true for sunrise and sunset since both are captured in some of the cameras.

The camera at Sheffield - Coytown needs to be visited by the MRDC people. It looks like the camera has tilted at a crazy angle and only captures a small fragment of the highway and the colour balance and focus have gone bad.


The camera has gone from a "must monitor" camera to a majour disappointment. On the other hand the province is bringing its cameras back on line and I see the St. Margarets camera is back.

Yesterday the cameras captured the first human image that I have seen so far in the person of a snowmobiler just running off the bottom of the frame at the HWY95 /540 Brunway location.


Just a word on the Brun Way cameras. The Meductic camera is just a bad camera setup while the Aroostook River is one of my top three views. They give a larger more detailed view but I think they all have a heavy light filter on them that makes everything dim unless it is direct sunlight.

This morning the highways are deserted. At 11:30 in the morning on Friday I think we have the most deserted set of highway photos taken so far. Go figure.