I think winter is here...........

And still coming down...

Can you tell I haven't had the car out today?

Suggestions that the lawn furniture be put away fell on deaf ears.....

the dog seems to like it

Sandy (and Ginny) have you studied Oltmann's and 2Zeus's loverly pictures yet? :)

The dogs LOVE it - had a great time on their walk yesterday, snowplowing with their nose, leaping about...

Dont dogs have fun in the snow? Mine love it too. And they eat huge amounts too!

Well yesterday it really started to warm up, the car started fine and I took the dogs for a walk.
Now it is near to freezing point and the roads are getting slushy and tonite it will probably freeze and tomorrow the roads will be awful! But at least it is not necessary to put on all those clothes and the dogs are comfortabe outside.

Snow and cold temperatures would have been kind compared to what Ontario/Quebec is gonna get ........you eastern folks heading to work tomorrow have my sympathy. :S

Yikes! Freezing rain warning!!!!!! Then snow on top of that.....You just had to go and tempt fate, didn't you Sandy? This is not going to be fun :-( Yes I studied those pictures....shhhhhhhh! Don't tell anyone that I thought it looked quite pretty. MUCH different story now that it's headed my way!

--Ginny

speaking very softly here (since I don't know how much coffee Ginny has consumed lately ;).......do you easterners have your ice tires on yet??? chains???????

WWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHH !!

sniff sniff
sorry Ginny

There, there Sandy. Don't cry now. Everyone makes mistakes.

LOLOL Actually Pam, we're going to be putting our snow tires on on Sunday....you'll notice that is AFTER the freezing rain today and the snow tomorrow, in which we must drive to Stratford (about 40 minutes away from us) to pick up our pre-ordered Christmas tree. Isn't that just so Canadian :-)

Crazy Canuck does seem to come to mind. ;) edited to say we never seem to have our winter tires on either if freezing rain occurs. :S




This message was edited Dec 1, 2006 11:51 AM

Well, youse guys hardly get any snow, eh? It's hit and miss, right? So, it's not like you can PREDICT it, or anything...:)

LOLOLOL ;) re: Ginny's long term forcast.

while I laugh actually a hard rain just prior to it snowing is becoming more of the norm here. Not this winter tho it just snowed (so of course we had our winter tires on in time ;).

there's nothing like the thrill of stopping a block and half past the stop sign. We tend to head up hill when we go for that desperately needed tire change. ;)



This message was edited Dec 1, 2006 3:36 PM

Friend of mine said she slid sideways for one entire block down a fairly steep hill, going to work the morning after we got all the snow, said it was - "good cardio-vascular exercise, anyway!"

Think I'd rather just go for a brisk walk.

Amen to that! They (whoever "they" are) say that too much adrenaline in the system too often is not good for one's system. So, my theory then is that we should be able to take company-paid medical leave in a snow free climate during the winter months! Otherwise, wouldn't they be exposing us to unsafe working conditions by requiring us to go through this over and over again to get to work? Works for me anyway :-)

I'll be off in 40 minutes for the long drive home. At least the freezing rain warning is off now for my area. All that's left is the wind warning. As long as it doesn't start snowing.................

At least provide you with a car and driver, so you could relax in the back seat as you passed the peons driving themselves...

yeah, Ginny, you'll have to get practicing waving like the queen, passing the peons!

Ok we warmed up a bit, then it went down again but what I want to know is what everyone's relative humidity is???

-16°C
Partly cloudy. Light snow and blowing snow.


FEELS LIKE -29°C
WIND NW 41 km/h
GUSTS 50 km/h
RELATIVE HUMIDITY 84%
DEWPOINT -18°C
PRESSURE 102.39 kPa
VISIBILITY 3.2 km
CEILING 7500 ft

Now I could understand 84% if I was in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver (or near any large body of water) but given the cold that we've been through it should be at 20% right now. They say the Jet Stream, that's dropped down to the Gulf of Mexico, is drawing it northwards ( I still can't believe the extreme prairie cold hasn't sucked it up). The one blessing is my skin hasn't dried out and I'm not financing a hand cream factory (yet).

We are 66% humidity as of 5pm according to Environment Canada. Yeah, I always thought it was a DRY cold out on the prairies.

The squalls stalled last night over southern Ontario. London (what we up here call the "banana belt") got 2 1/2 - 3 feet of snow last night. The city is closed down tighter than a drum (yippee! no work for me today!) - all schools and most businesses closed, no city buses, even the taxi companies have been ordered to take no calls except emergencies. All the surrounding counties are reporting the roads are impassable this morning and police are broadcasting for everyone to stay home unless it's a medical emergency. They haven't had a storm like this for almost 30 years. I know - I lived in London from the early 70's until the fall of 2003, and I was there when the last big one hit in the winter of 77-78.

--Ginny

Edited to add: It's rather amusing that the fun random image right now is the Tall Bearded Iris 'Snowed In': http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/31966/

This message was edited Dec 8, 2006 9:07 AM

Had to chuckle when I read about your day off Ginny (it's the only time you are happy about snow ;).











BUT who does the shoveling???????

Why, DH of course :-) He's such a gentleman (and I am sooooooo lucky to have found him).

Kinda guessed that. ;)

Oh no - my spring bulbs are starting to sprout in my side garden bed! The hyacinths are up anywhere from 2 to 4 inches already. I guess that probably means I won't have any flowers from them in the spring now, 'cause you just know this warm weather isn't going to last much longer :-(

--Ginny

Brrrr, I wish you could send a little of your warm weather West. We are very cold in the Southern Interior of BC.

Hopefully you will still see Spring blossoms, Ginny. Hopefully not all of the plants were as bravely adventuresome and optimistic as those hyacinths. Good Luck.

Don

Ginny,

I noticed some spring bulb foliage popping up last week, and wondered what the silly things thought they were doing this time of year!

Thanks for the good wishes Don. So far it's only the hyacinths. I wonder why the crocuses didn't start first?

They think it's spring Cheryl! They've had their summer/fall rest and their cold snap, so now that the weather has warmed up again they think it's time to start growing. Stupid plants.

--Ginny

Speaking of stupid plants, can anyone explain to me why my crocus bulbs every year seem to work themselves to the surface of the soil, and then right out, until they are just lying around on the top of the dirt? I've replanted them deeper each year, and every time, it's the same thing.

ROTFLOL Are you sure you don't have some little critters doing their "housecleaning"? Maybe you're cluttering up their storage room or something :-)

Ahh, Ginny, that mental picture made me howl.

Reminds me of the year I started geraniums from seed, and when they were about 2" tall, planted them out in their alloted spaces, only to have the crows invent a fun game wherein they pulled them out and flung them around, and I went out and stubbornly replanted them. They became rattier and rattier looking over the week or so that I foolishly expected to win this contest. I finally conceded, and had no geraniums that year.

They ignored all my other seedlings, but something about those geraniums just got them worked up. They've never done this to me before or since; mind you, I've never tried geraniums from seed again, either!!

Currently here:
30 °F / -1 °C
N/A
Humidity: 62%
Dew Point: 18 °F / -8 °C
Wind: 22 mph / 35 km/h / 9.8 m/s from the WSW
Pressure: 30.06 in / 1018 hPa (Falling)
Windchill: 16 °F / -9 °C
Visibility: -

At least this year (so far) we still have snow cover here (and I'm hanging on to it). I'm guessing La Nina finally kicked in (for most of us).

Hey echoes did you see this?????????????????

Most areas of the Prairies can expect to see cooler than normal temperatures especially for the beginning of the winter. The jet stream will sink across the west which will allow in cold arctic air. Southern areas of the Prairie Provinces can expect near normal precipitation. Wetter than normal conditions are expected across central and eastern prairies. Normally, the prairie region does not receive a great deal of snowfall during the winter season, however with the path of the systems this winter, Prairie residents should be prepared for more snow than usual.

Inanda you'd better get the smelling salts out (for echoes;).



This message was edited Dec 19, 2006 12:08 AM

You'll be getting your snow again Ginny (however it may be more than you want (sorta like echoes ;)

With temperatures near or above seasonal for the beginning of winter, Southern Ontario and Quebec may be very messy. The expected conditions could mean a bad start for many winter resorts. Temperatures near or above freezing will create mixed precipitation and any snow received is likely to melt quickly. These conditions are expected to change later in the season when temperatures are expected to cool. Systems travelling along the jet stream and across central parts of Ontario and Quebec will bring wetter than normal conditions. Lake effect snow will be a factor for the traditional Snow Belt areas.


This message was edited Dec 18, 2006 11:13 PM

Todd/Diggingdirt/et al, this may not be the winter for digging out your snowmobiles.....

Atlantic Canada is expected to be wetter than normal. With temperatures milder than normal look for mixed precipitation and messy weather conditions. As a result, it may not be a good season for winter sports.

Your shoveling muscles may be overjoyed however.

BC's isn't much of a surprise.......

Much of British Columbia is expected to experience near normal temperatures. Weather systems travelling south from northern Canada will spread across BC, giving wetter than normal conditions to the northeastern region of the province and near normal precipitation for the rest. Central and northern coastal areas should expect the beginning of the winter to be drier than normal.

However the unprecedented early snowfall(s) was!