Winter 2008 has been one of the worst on record here in Ontario. The snowfall record in Toronto was 207 cm (81.5 inches) and was set way back in the 1930’s. As of Thursday, we had received over 170 cm. On Friday & Saturday, Mother Nature dumped another whopping 30 cm.
Continue reading →

Winter weather has been getting more and more unpredictable over the past few years here in Ontario. Apparently last year we only received a total of 60 cm (27.7″) over the whole winter. So far in the fall of 2007, we’ve had almost that much already! Our Chrysler 300 tester stayed parked on Sunday.

The crazy thing is that they are predicting we will have a green Christmas!

For years now, I’ve been enlisted to don a Frosty the Snowman suit for the Whitby Santa Claus Parade on behalf of the dance studio our daughter goes to. It makes the kids happy (well, the 13 year old is suitably embarrassed) and believe it or not, I have a blast doing it. Over the past few years it has become increasingly colder, which certainly makes it a challenge to be Frosty. After all, that suit looks toasty, but there isn’t room for anything more than gitch and the wind howls through the fleece.

Yesterday was a frosty -12 C. For our American friends, that is just a tad over 10 F. Talk about frozen snow balls!

I don’t know about global warming, but the weather patterns have certainly been changing. It used to be the parade would occur well above freezing and if there was snow in November, it was a fluke. Last night we had snow storm #2 of the season already, which has dumped about 4 inches, with foot tall drifts! I just can’t wait to see how this winter pans out. Not!

The first winter storm, is always the worst. It doesn’t matter how much snow falls, the city always comes to a stop. Yesterday it rained all day until about about 10 pm, when it turned to ice. Early this morning, it turned to snow around 6 am, just in time for rush hour. As you can tell from the shot above, traffic was at a standstill. That’s probably a good thing, as it’s hard to crash when you’re parked! I made it from Whitby to Scarborough, a grand total of 28 kilometers in an hour and 40 minutes.
Continue reading →