For the past week, it would seem that winter is finally on un here in southern Ontario. Last week was chilly, with Saturday being -35C (-31F) and very clear. Sunday was warmer at about -10C (-14F) and sunny as well. I managed to get off some shots of ol' Sol as well.
The forcast for Sunday night into Monday was snow beginning at midnight and anywhere from 10-20 cm's (4 to 8 inches) of accumulation by the afternoon.
I figured it would be a day off; a lot of the places I go to are rural, and in a rear-wheel drive 2012 Ford Ranger; even with the snow tires... Not the best of ideas.
Still, I got up at my usual 5AM ish on Monday morning and had a peek outside. It looked to me like the amount predicted had already fallen, but what do I know. Her highness the
I checked the forecast on the computer; seems things changed a wee bit. Now we were predicted to get anywhere from 30-50cm's (12-20 inches) by 3PM with more possible due to blowing snow.
Sunrise here now is about 7:45, and it was still looking like twilight at 9AM. The snow just kept on falling... We ended up with 38cm's (15 inches) where I am.
At a bit after 2PM, it finally stopped and the winds picked up. It was still about -10C, but I shoveled a path to the backyard gate (fire exit). I had left my bicycle outside. 15 hours ago there wasn't a flake of snow on the ground...
An hour later I went out front to the car. Remember those winds I spoke of? Somewhere under here is a Honda Civic
That took almost 2 hours to shovel out and by then it was getting dark; not to mention the dropping temperature.
Later on that night Sasha the
This morning, Tuesday, there was another snow day; this will take a while to clear out. However, I had to go out, at least for one call.
Many of the people I deliver to are elderly/disabled or both. And there is this one woman who lives about 15 minutes away from me. She lives in a townhouse and I am one of two people she sees; the other being her nurse. Without getting into detail, she is so sweet and depends on me and as well, her dog and
Since everything for the first two days of the week is already in the truck and she doesn't live too far, I thought to just do this one visit. I left at 7AM with the temperature now at -20C (-4F), and the roads were pretty empty of traffic and full of snow.
In this snow, you try and approach the stoplight slowly so you don't actually have to stop. It can be a trick to get going from a dead stop, especially in a rear wheel drive pickup.
A drive that's normally 15 minutes was today 45. I pulled into the parking lot as it was getting bright out. Facing west, I noticed the setting Moon; the first full Moon of the year. I took a shot with my iphone. Not the best picture obviously, but I do like the transition between the blue twilight and the purple dusk
I backed the truck into a visitors parking spot, and noticed it was getting bright to my left. I took a look east, and at first I thought "is something on fire?"
Nope. Just a spectacular sunrise!
Seriously, it was stunning; the following pictures do not do what I saw justice.
It looked like a huge orange frame shooting up from the horizon, with an orangish glow rising up above that. I realized it was glow from the Sun rising, but still, I've never seen anything quite like this!
This was 5 minutes later; 3 seconds after 8AM according to the picture timestamp. You can see the Sun at the bottom of the trees and the glow was so intense.
This is the last shot I took at, well, 8:06AM. You can see the Sun in between the trees, with what looks like a huge triangle of flame above it. After that there was no looking at it as the Sun was too bright, and the sky quickly turned blue.
I've had a lot of astronomical "Wow!" moments in my life (rings of Saturn, eclipses, etc) and I was amazed that this was one of them. A simple sunrise in some interesting conditions!
As for why this is happening, I figure it's between all the ice crystals from the blowing snow coupled with the cold and clear skies. Even if I'm wrong, it was an event I won't soon forget!
This was so worth the trip; I never would have seen this if I hadn't done what I did.
The drive home was interesting to say the least. The way back, on the same route I took; there was now a stalled tractor trailer across the highway. This meant side streets and some city traffic...
There are almost 200 buses in the city at the side of the road, stuck in the snow. They're really not designed for navigating this weather, but what else can you do? Here's two of them; been there since yesterday...
At a bit after 10PM, I was finally almost home.
I did manage to get some white-light shots of the Sun soon after I got in, but I still have to process those. Maybe tomorrow
It's going to be a long week here. and we're supposed to get more snow tonight, then a rain/snow mix tomorrow, and finally a nice arctic cold front for Thursday into the weekend :sigh:
Hope your week fares better and thanks for reading!
All the best,
