The Treacherous Beauty of Freezing Rain in Canada's Capital
This morning, I woke up to a winter wonderland, a beautiful white fog, and all trees were covered in a layer of ice. It had started yesterday when Ottawa was hit by an ice storm, which brought down trees, generated power outages, and made driving treacherous.
It was caused by a collision of a mass of warm, wet air from the south and a solid wall of cold air stretching from Eastern Ontario into Quebec that refused to budge.
According to Environment Canada's senior climatologist, David Phillips, in Ottawa Citizen, the Canadian capital is a geographical sweet spot for freezing rain. The city is located in a valley, which means that cold air, which is always heavier and denser, sticks to the ground.
So when the lighter, warmer air from the south hits the heavy boulder of cold air, it can't push it away and therefore has no other option than to ride over the top of the cold. The rain that then falls down becomes freezing rain. Ottawa gets this about 60 hours yearly, much more than most other Canadian cities.
The effect is dangerous and beautiful. Trees break down under the extra weight with the additional help of yesterday's wind. Today, I saw fallen trees all over my neighborhood. And it also results in dangerous road conditions and broken power lines.
But it is beautiful too; the ice on the trees looks like a fairytale decoration or the curse of a Disney Ice Princess.
Thanks to my friends who convince me every Tuesday to forget about work for a while and join them to go snowshoeing in the beautiful Gatineau Park in Quebec on the other side of the Ottawa River, I have learned to appreciate the harsh Ottawa winter so much more than in my first winter here.
In 2020, I arrived during the pandemic, and winter meant only an additional isolation element in locked-down Ottawa. However, last winter, and especially this winter, I created so many beautiful memories that I may someday long to return to the magical landscapes of snow, hills, trees, and blue skies.
What I miss is a long springtime. It's my favorite season, but here it is so short. While there are still piles of snow outside, it will be 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) by next Wednesday. In the Netherlands, we would easily mistake that for a summer day.
Today was a day of change. The winter wonderland I saw when I opened the curtains this morning disappeared like a self-destructing Banksy, and only hours later, I didn't even have to wear a coat when I went out to get groceries.
Summer is coming after perhaps a short springtime, which I define in Ottawa as the few weeks between the day I see my first flower and the day the last tulips bloom.
The change was heralded this evening by a magnificent sunset.
I write this newsletter because I believe we can do better on this beautiful but fragile planet if we work together.
You can subscribe for free to receive this newsletter in your email, but please consider supporting this initiative by paying for a subscription. The paying subscribers make it possible for those who can't afford it to read for free.
Notes:
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ice-storm-science-why-ottawa-is-a-geographical-sweet-spot-for-freezing-rain
A lovely article and magnificent sunset.
Thanks for sharing the beauty.
Beautiful pictures. I'm fascinated by the ice on those twigs. Glad you were safely away when they broke off. Love the Banksy reference. Spring in Ottawa sounds extremely short. Almost like the weather wants to make up for the long harsh winter. Now I'm wondering if that has an influence on the kinds of plants you would find in and around Ottawa. I would miss a proper spring. I know I did when I lived in California. I saw my first tulip on a walk on Wednesday. If we're getting proper April weather it will snow again on my birthday. So we're right on track. Happy Easter!