Weather
January 16, 2009 - 9:48am
-40C here.
Support rabble | Advertise with us | Contact our staff | About rabble | Log-in or Register for a new account | Corrections | Privacy policy | Newsfeeds | Mailing lists
rabble: Features | Columnists | In Cahoots | Blogs | Books | Photos | What's Up | Polls
babble: Forum Topics | Active Topics
The rpn: Become a Podcaster | Find a Show
rabbleTV: Program Guide | Features | Indie Inside | Best of the net
Copyright © 2001-2010 the authors
Syndicate
-28C here, windchill - 43C.
Up to -30 now (from -37 last night), but the wind chill is -44. Trees are all white and frosty.
a comparitively balmy -30 with the windchill in Saint John, N.B.
This cold is really uncomfortable. My front door is frozen shut, I'm going through my firewood supply fast, my basement office (where I am right now) is quite cold, even with a wall mounted electric heater and the wood burning furnace just 25 feet away. I have small electric heaters going all over the house. It's -31C outside with windchill at -41C. We're all hoping, in this tiny community, that the water mains don't burst from the cold. The -41C windchill is forecast to be with us until Sunday.
It's only -11 here, with the windchill -23.
We're under a snowsquall warning and some of the roads are closed.
It's a squeaky snow day!
Hey, if it's any consolation, Winnipeg was colder than the North and South poles on Wednesday.
-32 in SJ this morning with a -39 wind chill
Wow! Can that be attributed to global climate change?
Yeah, a little scary when the north and south poles are warmer than a Canadian city. Mind you, I have read that towns north of 60 are often warmer than Winnipeg in winter, so it's possible that almost any place is warmer than Winnipeg in winter :) The online article does not show the graphic which showed the temps at 6am Wed to be -27 and -26 at the north and south poles respectively, Winnipeg -34C (before windchill).
It's a frosty 1 degree Celisus here in Vancouver-by-the-Sea, won't get any warmer than 5 today so I guess cycling is out.
Anything less than 7 Celsius is too cold for these old bones but since I was out for 2 hours of seaside riding the past 2 days one day off won't hurt too much.
It is a balmy, bright and sunny +2 here in the central interior Rockies. The snow has melted so much over the last 2 days, with the rain and warm temps, that we can see the grass and weeds sticking up in the ditches.
Went down to -5 last night though, because the sky was clear.
Off to get some mountain spring water for drinking today, wonderful day to snowshoe in and haul it.
__________________________________________________________
"watching the tide roll away"
I often cycle at 0 to 5c, and even a bit colder when there isn't any serious snow on the ground, and I doubt you are much older than I am.
I miss cycling so much!
About -20 here. I haven't set foot outside for 2 days (I'm working at home). But must buy a few things nearby today.
Tomorrow, I'll have to get some fresh vegetables and protein. I have some lovely Chinese greens but I'll probably finish them tonight. I also made a (small) braised blade roast with red wine, good concentrated stock, onions, carrot, mushrooms etc, but I don't like eating red meat every day, even in cold weather. It feels too heavy (obviously if I'd been working outside I'd feel differently about that). I'm fretting about not getting enough exercise, and can't stand to be out in the cold.
Plenty of coffee and cat food though.
I often cycle at 0 to 5c, and even a bit colder when there isn't any serious snow on the ground, and I doubt you are much older than I am.
I miss cycling so much!
I could cycle when it's colder than 7 but often come home feeling sick and I think it's because I've lived so much in warmer places that somewhow my body doesn't adapt to exertion in the cold.
Forecast details for Natashquan Saturday 17Th:
Day: Sunny. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50. High minus 22. Wind chill minus 47 this morning and minus 38 this afternoon. Night: Cloudy periods. Wind northwest 20 km/h becoming light near midnight. Low minus 27. Wind chill minus 37.
The weather's been cold here in London, overnights of about -22, daytime highs in the -teens. People are complaining, but I remind them that in truly cold places, the weather forcasters on T.V. and the radio don't bother with the "minus" prefix on the temperatures.
Yesterday on the way to work, I was driving south on Highbury Ave, and saw a cloudy misty thing in the air. I thought was a snow squall, but it was just ice crystals, and I think, smog due to some kind of inversion.
I had hoped to see some sun dogs during the day, but the ice crystals must have been the wrong shape, or not high enough in the atmosphere.
This morning, the sunrise was all purples and magentas and pinks and blues. Glorious.
When you walk, the snow is beyond just crunching, it squeaks like some wierd kind of styrafoam.
CBC radio is going on and on and on about the cold. I mean, -20 in January in Canada?
This is a news story? Please.
Residents of Winnipeg will be happy to know that as people remark to me about how cold it is here, and how it sucks, I look at them with a poker face and say:
"yeah, but it's a dry cold."
Boom Boom, how well insulated is your house? As a stop gap, can you pile snow against the windward side of your house?
It's a 40-year-old trailer with cheap pressboard siding and a basement and a laundry room added on, so it's basically a steel tube with siding. Adding snow to the sides all around is an annual ritual here - for everyone. With the wood furnace and baseboard heaters all on, the inside is rather comfortable. However, the front door is frozen shut, I have to use the basement entrance. No significant warming here in the forecast until Tuesday (can be found at: http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/qc-125_metric_e.html#detailsf and click on "details").
I live in Kegaska, 44 km from Natashquan, which is the nearest weather station.
What's your roof situation like? Is it flat, and barren of snow? If so, can you get snow on it? I'm imagining it's flat. Maybe that's where you are losing most of your heat.
I have a poorly insulated roof on the lean-to type extension on my house, which is where the kitchen and bathroom are. I notice a big difference when there's a foot or so of snow on it, as opposed to when it's bare.
Unfortunately, because the temperatures don't stay cold here, I have to remove the snow from the roof from time to time to eliminate the ice dam at the eaves trough, which, if neglected, will actually cause leaks in the roof as the melt water builds up.
No, it's an angled roof, added when the trailer was converted into a permanent house 40 years ago. I added new metal sheeting last summer. However, I have condensation problems in the laundry room, and the contractor thinks that roof area needs to be higher and more angled.
I don't want this house to free of air leaks because of the wood furnace. I'm hoping to get on the provincial home renovations assistance program (I forget the exact name) to do some badly needed work that I can't afford.
Finally, after about 6 weeks of below normal, the cold snap is breaking. It's still -9, but the sun is shining, the wind is light and there's actual humidity in the air.
It's not so much that -25 or below is unexpected in the winter, but that we've had such a long stretch of -20 and below... Usually you don't get more than a couple of weeks of extreme cold here at a crack.
When our 'normals' for this time of year are -4 to -13, we are just about to pull out of a cold snap that, with windchills, has had us at -30 and less for several days. So much for those Atlantic Ocean breezes keeping us in the milder range of temperatures.
I am nostalgic for my Winterpeg and Labrador days...
Heh. I'm just below Labrador, and woke up to -47C windchill just outside my window. You miss that???
Used to freeze my friggin' toes off during my daily runs in Sheshatshiu!
It was -40 the day I moved out of Winterpeg. The tarps on the roof of my Chevette split in the cold and flapped behind me like some maniacal winter spectre. It was a good day to leave.
I have no idea what the temperature is like outside, but I'm looking out my living room window right now at gigantic flakes of snow falling, and it looks beautiful. I'll have to make sure to get out in it sometime today - my son and I want to go pick up some fish at the fish market down the street, and I have a few other groceries to get, too. I'm up before him right now, though.
It's a balmy -10 this morning, which means the Foley artists who have been accompanying the starting of my van this past week will have gone back to Hollywood.
We got snow with the warm front though, so you know what I'll be doing today.
Boom Boom, the only other significant place I can think of where you are losing heat may be the sill between your foundation and the trailer body. Some inexpensive caulking might solve that. Although, if the conversion was done in the last decade or more, they should have done a good job on that area originally.
When you said "trailer" I keep thinking of those things that people tow behind cars and light trucks. But it occurs to me that what you are talking about is what we call a "mobile home". My niece and nephew's house started out as a mobile home, though you'd never know unless they told you. I think I'm getting a better idea of what you are talking about. I am slow sometimes.
I haven't bought one in a while, but I believe Co detectors are not terribly expensive. I should replace mine, my ex bought it so that makes it at least eight years old, possibly ten. She got it because our furnace was so old. I've since replaced the furnace, but the detector is still in use.
If it allows you to be more aggressive in chasing down air leaks, it will pay for itself quickly.
But it occurs to me that what you are talking about is what we call a "mobile home".
Yeah, it's a mobile home trailer.
I haven't bought one in a while, but I believe Co detectors are not terribly expensive.
It'd probably go off all the time if I got one and sealed off all the air leaks. The air leaks - and I don't think there's a lot of them - are probably keeping me alive while I burn wood for heat.
Yeah, my niece and nephew supplement their propane heat with a wood burning stove in the basement. I asked about the Co detector I gave them many years ago, and they said they don't use it because it went off all the time in the house they had previously.
Yeesh.
I will buy them another. I think the original ones were too sensitive to the presence of Co. There were stories of people's detectors going off in Chicago years ago, due to an inversion during cold weather.
There are cases every year of people dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. I'd be interested to know how many of those people were living in newer homes that are draft free, as compared to old drafty homes.
My trailer/mobile home with a basement and laundry room added on is about 40 years old, and definitely not free of air leaks, nor do I want it to be. In fact, as soon as it warms up a bit, I'll open a window partway to allow the house to air out more.
Here they are called 'mini homes'. Though they aren't really tiny homes, which I have been seriously and ravenously researching in terms of downsizing. Simple, small, thing-free.
Actually, those carbon monoxide detectors, although they're sensitive, when they go off, are an excellent reminder to crack open the windows a bit when burning wood. Fortunately my home isn't airtight, so it not something I'm too worried about. This house has been heated with wood for the past 40 years, and I'm the third owner to live here, and everyone so far has survived okay. When it's not quite so cold, I air the house out more often in the winter. And I go outside quite a bit in the daytime, and everytime I go out or enter, I keep the door open for a while for the air to circulate a bit.
It was another gorgeous day in the mountains, a tepid +8, and melting melting melting. But it has been cold, -8, at night because the sky is clear.
But the mountains are losing their snow pack fast. Slides notwithstanding.
___________________________________________________________ "watching the tide roll away"
Wore my Crocs to the beach today-warm sunny/partially foggy 5 Celsius more or less.
Lots of folks about and the fog horns were as ghostly as ever.
We had a huge blizzard Sunday night and all day Monday, with lots of snow, then Tuesday night the power went off until late yesterday afternoon (windchill was -42 when the power went out) and today I'm recovering from a bout of food poisoning last night probably connected to the power being out for 15 hours. I've been quiet this week for a reason.
Are you okay Boom Boom?
I will be. I have to go easy on my food choices today. I'm glad I brought in a lot of firewood yesterday before I got sick, because we have heavy snow coming this afternoon according to the forecast, better to stock up on firewood before the going gets rough. I think it was Tuesday when I took the skidoo out to make a path around the house - and I got stuck! The snow was really deep.
Yesterday my neighbour returned from a week away, and the water pipes in her house burst - last week we had two full days of -52C windchill, and I think she only has one baseboard heater - she heats mostly with wood, and of course her wood stove was off the whole time she was away. Quite a mess to come home to. I made a path around her house with my skidoo so she could at least walk out to the woodshed and bring in some firewood.
It's been a nasty winter here, and it's only January - still February and March to survive yet.
Hope you are feeling better, Boom Boom.
It warmed up here today, but a deep freeze is on it's way for the weekend. Monday's low is suposed to be -27, which London hasn't seen for a while I don't think. That'll be the test.
We still haven't had a significant enough thaw to reduce piles of snow. I've seen dump trucks full of snow driving through town, so the city is busy cutting away snow piles. A normal event north of here, but a once or twice a decade event in London.
This is the part of January where, historically, London's worst snow storms have happened. And, as I say every year, we are way over due for a blizzard.
Damn it. It's -40 windchill here, going to be even colder in a few hours, and our hydro went out - for the second night in a week. I'm using my battery power laptop to type this. We likely won't have power again until tomorrow unless Quebec Hydro can get a team out here by skidoo tonight from Natashquan, but it's too cold to skidoo almost 50 kilometers!
We'll see. In the meantime I have to keep a fire going in the furnace, but not so high that it overheats without the fan. Damn!
Blame Yukon: Arctic air mass chills rest of North America
"It's really Arctic air. I mean, it doesn't have any ownership. But really that source region, where this air is emanating from, does seem to be the Yukon," he said.
24 hours and five minutes later, the power is back on. Yes, it was a goddamned cold night! Fucking Quebec Hydro treats this territory like a Third World country - no backup power system for a very isolated area.
What proportion of folks have an electric generator?
"Phillips said winter-weary Americans always blame Canada for cold temperatures, while Canadians usually blame Siberia."
How convenient. Actually, the accelerated climatic change process we have been thrown into by bad energy conservation practices includes cold spells like this for the Northen Hemisphere as ocean currents and other factors are modified. It's not better in Europe: three killed in an avalanche in Scotland, minus 18 in Switzerland this morning, wind storms ripping through Southern France and Spain, snow in Marseille...
Less than 1% I'd guess. I have a small one, but it's not strong enough to drive the furnace fan. How many backup generators does Quebec Hydro have here? None. Nada.
ETA: Quebec Hydro should really train and hire people in every one of our isolated communities to replace and install burned out transformers or downed hydro lines. Right now QH has workers in Natashquan, La Tabatiere (Robertson Lake Hydro Project) and Blanc Sablon, but as far as I know none in the smaller communities at all. We're just 44 km from Natashquan but those hydro workers will not come out here at night if the power goes out. Last week the power went out at 6 pm at night and the hydro workers didn't get here until mid-afternoon the next day - and the wind chill was -42C.
Well, it's official. Lake Erie is frozen over. Completely.
And, there's only an area less than the size of Georgian Bay (also frozen over) of open water in Lake Huron. The area of Lake Huron that subjects London to Lake effect snow, or streamers is also frozen over, so no more sudden dumps of snow with the north west wind.
I would expect that the reduced winter evaporation, coupled with a better than average snow pack, will push the lake levels back up to the normal after having been down for the past number of years.
http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/NAIS25ECT/20090129180000_NAIS25ECT_0004...
Hey, a tropical +1 today. And sunny.
LOL. Like no other Canadian city (hello, Montreal?) has any experience dealing with snow. Must be the new Renee Zellweger movie.
London calling: Winnipeg mayor go-to man for snowed-under Brits
Beautiful sunny day here and the temps are a balmy -20C, so I went on a long skidoo ride. Had to wear sunglasses because it's so bright out.
(it won't last, though - we have a huge snowstorm coming Sunday)
This saturday, the weatherman is promising +5 and rain, but sunday dips back to below zero again. Good thing-- one of my daughter's and I are going to go looking for deer and coyotes in the Pond Mills area Sunday. I'd rather it be on the minus side of zero for that. There's also a few boggy places we don't normally have access to in warm weather that we should be able to have a look at-- unless the snow is too deep.
weather related....
I am experiencing a general dryness of the skin all over, but particularly in the hands. I wash them often, and I think the untanned leather of my work gloves drink up a lot of oil from my skin.
So. I have slathered my hands with hand lotion (hand lotion for hands, who'd a thunk?) and put on a pair of vinyl gloves to keep the lotion on, and keep it off things like, well, keyboards.
The effect is strangley errotic, in a Dr. Phibes kind of way.
Ah, the lotion has worked it's way into the cracks that are in the tips of my fingers.
The stinging is exquisite.
lol, tommy, almost tmi...
melting melting here, been +8 or higher, going down to only 0 at night.
The rain from the wet coast is passing us by, watched it off in the distance over the mountain tops, whirling and swirling shades of black, grey and white, beyond the blue edge, while speeding ever eastward.
Someone is going to get some snow in the east from that system.
It's melting here, too. Already +4 this morning.
Hey, the lotion and vinyl gloves thing really did the trick. My hands, with the exception of my poor thumb is all better. I'm thinking of using the same technique for the rest of my dry skin. So I'm off to the drug store for two rolls of saran wrap, and a jug of hand lotion.
Not really. Well. Maybe later tonight......
*ahem*
Anyway, it's dry skin season, and I was going to spend some part of the day with my pedi-egg, and do all kinds of things to my feet and hands that a macho factory working guy should never publicly admit too. But the fates have interviened. I may be off to Torana for a few hours, but the drive will probably take not only a chunck out of the day, but a chunk out of my will to self indulge.
We're expecting snow tomorrow, but not the blizzard that was earlier forecast for us. We have -30C windchill most nights now. Lots of snow on the ground already, and March is still to come.
Over a foot of snow last night, and it's still coming down!
We had a large dump of snow 2 nights ago, and got about 8" in a couple of hours. The flakes were huge over the size of a looney. However, it was just below zero, so started to melt quickly. It took me about 4 hours to shovel the driveways, decks, walkways and parking spots.
Sometimes it sucks being environmentally friendly and not using a snow blower to clear the snow..
-5.5 C here and it just stopped snowing and cleared up. Very bad road conditions the past few days, as it was +5 and pouring rain all day Thurs. Then Friday it was like -26, 70 km winds and snowing. A skating rink covered in snow!
I love cross-country skiing and am excited about a romantic ski under (hopefully) beautiful clear skies. Though, I still find myself dreaming of Spring.
Remind, I hope the snowplow did not fill in the end of your driveway as soon as you finished, as ours did.
The snow is too deep here to use a snowblower unless it's one of those giant airport thingies. It's even difficult getting around on a skidoo today here. It's 1 degree C so it's going to be tough getting through this mess, some cold weather will harden the snow and make it easier for skidoos to get around.
No ghislaine, I/we do the driveways last, as by that time the plow has usually gone by, and they usually try not to fill our driveway in too badly, . The benefits of a small community, you know.
Well, then again PG does not allow their plows to fill driveways in either, the snow from the roads are pushed into a pile on either side of the driveway.
Going to go for a snowshoe today, it is cold so the snow will be fluffy and not sticky. But the sun is shining, and not a cloud in the sky, and the snow has a million sparkles of light.
Finally made a path around the house and garage with my skidoo, and shovelled the snow from the basement and front door entrances. It's a hell of a lot of snow! Just like living at the North Pole, I'd guess. I think all of us here are a little apprehensive of what March will bring - March is always our worst winter month.
It was -15 this afternoon., so I flooded the rink. Then I went for a bike ride to the radio station in -20. In sum, a nice day.
The big indicator is that it was still almost daylight at 7:00 tonight.
It's also almost daylight at 8:00 a.m. I'm glad we don't have DST.
It was a gorgeous sunny day out yesterday, and it's shaping up to be a gorgeous, sunny day here today, too. Not sure what the temperature is right now...hang on, I'll see what my friend Environment Canada says...ah, lovely! It's supposed to be a high of +1. Currently it's -7 with a windchill of -13.
Positively balmy! I love it. :) Happy Family Day, everyone (in Ontario)!
Another bright and glistening sunny day here, the temp went down last evening so all of the trees have a frosty coating on them. And they too are glistening in the sun. It is actually quite difficult to look outside, as the UV rays are bouncing off of everything, making one all squinty..
Happy Family Day Ontarians.
And Happy Family Day to Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba!
Raging blizzard outside. Providentially, they cancelled school this morning before the first flake fell. Tomorrow is a PD day for teachers. Students are getting a 4 day weekend. Our children aren't complaining.
We shall have a blizzard here tomorrow. If we get a significant snowfall, I don't know I'll put it - we have too much on the ground as it is.
A blizzard blew in from NB this afternoon. I just went out to move the snow away from my LR windows, and holy crap there's a lot of snow out there!!!
Its snowing here, a flake every 3 ft swirling around, not sticking supposed to be like this for 3 days.
Anyone hear from Caissa today? This storm blew in from NB according to what I saw on the news.
The St. Bernards have been sent out.
The goldfinch have discovered the feeders and the motley crew of sparrows (a variety) doves and other ground feeders have been joined by 40 of them, the males already starting to show a hint of gold.
It means a resolution not to buy any more black oil sunflower seeds is down the drain, and perhaps the foxtail millet as well. They gobble it at the rate of 3 lb. a day in this weather. Here's to the equinox.
Its a blizzard!!! Even the wet coast is supposed to get snow today or tomorrow.
Heh. We're expecting the Four Snowmen of the Apocalypse all this week in our weather report.
excerpt from the red highlighted sections:
Snowfall amounts from 15 to 25 cm are expected today and tonight over
these areas.
A winter storm will affect eastern Québec today as a major low
pressure system over the east coast will move up toward the
Maritimes. Snow, winds and blowing snow will intensify gradually as
the low pressure system approaches the Gulf of St Lawrence.
After snow and ice pellets, freezing rain will move in over areas
further east of the Lower North Shore tonight.
Visibilities will be reduced or near zero in blowing snow beginning
in the afternoon over these regions.
(the Four Snowmen of the Apocalypse: snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, and wind)
We have the ice pellets at the moment, Boom Boom. I'm supposed to chair a Finance Committee this evening, featuring the past treasurer and the new treasurer. Can I reserve the Apocalypse?
-15, -30 with wind chill in T.O.
Supposed to get sunny later, though. Overcast now.
Although we did get some snow and ice pellets last night, the huge storm that has clobbered the eastern seaboard has either bypassed us or frizzled out completely. Today looks like it could actually be a nice day instead of the Four Snowmen of the Apocalypse we've been dreading!
-20 here as it has been for quite awhile. I will greet the mosquitoes and blackflies with joy!
-15 again, winds gusting up to 60 kmph.
But the sun is out.
We broke records for cold here last week. It seems as if it's been 30 below for three months straight, with a few breaks here and there. It was so cold two days ago that the line on the graph on the Weather Network's 14-day forecast went lower than the graph could measure.
Two mornings ago it was -34; it warmed up to -10 yesterday, and today it finally hit +1.
Still cold here every night, usually around -18C, with wind chill as low as -37C. I have a bad cold, my head feels like it weighs a ton.
Winter's last gasp?
3:39 PM EDT Saturday 11 April 2009 Snowfall warning for Natashquan issued
Snowfall amounts surpassing 15 centimetres are expected over these areas Sunday.
A low pressure system over the eastern seaboard of the United States will track toward the Maritimes this evening and will reach the Gulf of St Lawrence Sunday evening after intensifying. Snow, blowing snow
and strong winds will affect eastern Québec Sunday.
I'm hoping it doesn't snow on the Easter bunny here in Halifax but we're definitely having a very rainy Easter weekend and some parts of the Maritimes will have snow. Let's hope you're right, Boom Boom -- winter's last gasp. The crocuses, meanwhile, have been lovely all week.
It's beautiful here today. Gorgeous and sunny. Still a bit cool, but a lot warmer than it has been this week. I spent a few hours this morning walking the nature trails that go through Toronto - did the Kay Gardiner Beltline from Mount Pleasant Cemetery to Eglinton West subway station, and then walked the trails from Eglinton West subway to St. Clair West subway. Ended with lunch at Albert's Jamaican restaurant.
I should do that more often! But I have a bit of a headache this evening - not sure what that's all about. I thought exercise was supposed to make you feel good! :)
Perfect day, sunny and cool, for the Float Your Fanny Down the Ganny races in Port Hope. Huge crowd watching canoeists, kayakers, and Krazy Krafters having a whale of a good time in fast-running freezing water, while the under-eights amused themselves in a scary fifty-foot Green Serpent, and the downtown merchants put their tables out for the sidewalk sales. Happy times for all.
We are waiting for 15-20 cm to start here - with 90 km/hr winds. Should be a nice Easter Sunday!
Might be dehydration. When I haven't exercised in awhile I drink a certain amount of water and then when I start exercising my body freaks out and I get a headache because it thinks I won't know to increase my fluids. I found I can avoid this by increasing my water by 2 glasses about a week before I start exercising. It used to happen to me every spring when I would start cycling after a long cold winter. But happens no more!
Oh, you know, you're probably right! I just realized, I really haven't had much to drink today! Normally I drink a lot of water.
...off to get a glass of water...
Wow. That fixed me right up!
I hope it's winter's last gasp, because I want to get out and garden, and cycle, and become more active - I've gained weight this winter, and need to get it off. Plus, I'm sick of winter - it's much too long. One month of winter weather would be plenty for me.
What is the cycling like up where you live Boom Boom?
All gravel roads, but they're packed down and relatively smooth. Can't go very far, though.
oh, that sucks. I just started re-cycling for pleasure now. My problem sounds like the opposite of yours, lots of road but it is not very fun to travel with the TO traffic. I use to be able to commute by bicycle but unfortuanately can only do that once or twice a week now and I am trying to train and get up to 40k 4 days a week so gotta find some fun places to cycle outside of my commuting days. Trying to figure out some good routes for west end Toronto without to much traffic.
The trails I mentioned above are a great idea for that, Refuge. Although I don't think they're 40 km long unless you go from one trail to the next, or do the same trail a few times in a row. :)
Fortunately our small communities on Quebec's Lower North Shore got through their Easter services before the storm hit - now we're getting heavy snow and winds of 60 kph - and the forecast is for wind of 90 kph tonight (and freezing rain and ice pellets). Gaaaahhh! I'm sick of this godsforesaken winter, will it ever end?
The trails I mentioned above are a great idea for that, Refuge. Although I don't think they're 40 km long unless you go from one trail to the next, or do the same trail a few times in a row. :)
Yea, I looked them up, if I went on the Don pathways and connected up to Mount Pleasant that might do it. I only need about 20k in a stretch - my communte is 20k but I go both ways so it makes up to 40.
I must confess, I did have cycling on the brain when I was reading your post!
That's pretty impressive, Refuge. I can't imagine doing 20 km in one stretch! You must really be in shape. :) Then again, I don't enjoy cycling at all, so I walk for exercise instead of biking.
That said, I also know people who run long distances like that. I can't even imagine being able to do that!
My heartfelt sympathies, Boom Boom. It is really quite nice today, here (10 degrees C.) This is a first for Easter, in my experience! We are all pleased and surprised
Yea, I thought the same thing for a long time (about 25 years actually) and then I started getting a double chin and I thought no more of that! Lucky me my body actually really likes exercise, I think if I had a hard time doing it I would quit to but fortuntely for me as long as I am eating properly my body adjusts really quickly.
My ultimate goal is to get back to what I was doing about 5 or 6 years ago - cycling plus an hour of weight training or circuit training and an hour of yoga/stretching. Sigh. I knew I was in shape when one of the little guys I work with (about 4) wanted to run and he ran out of breath before I did!
I just miss the days of when I was a "rural" girl. I love being able to ride on the roads with nothing but cows and fields and so little traffic you don't have to worry about it at all. But cycling in the city is a very different experience. Hopefully I will find a trail I like soon then it will just start to become routine and I can just relax and enjoy the ride.
I ran marathons in college, and actually finished - close to last. But I finished!
I entered a couple of bike races, but I was badly outclassed, and didn't finish. It was fun just to be in the race. That was a very long time ago! I'm quite out of shape now, I cycle six months of the year (on our gravel roads...) just for the exercise.
I am pretty much the same. I don't finish first but I do finish! I am not much for competition. I push myself but never in comparision to others only in comparision to what I know I could do.
Actually being in shape is more of a side benefit for me, the goal isn't to be the best or go the furthest, it is to do the best that I can at that moment and as the moment build the better shape I end up in. When I started out cycling I could only do 2k, and that took a long time. But I kept at it and would push myself when it got to easy and I ended up doing 40k. And along the way I picked up other things that would improve my cycling like weight and flexibility training.
Snow and 34F/1C temperatures today! I suppose I'll put off getting the garden started for another week.
28C in T.O. with clear skies and a humidex of 32C.
From windchill that drooped the plants on the weekend to this. Spring lasts about 3 weeks in Toronto these days; we go straight from winter to summer with barely a transition.
Sunny and warm here in Loyalist country...
It's sunny out, but it seems like we've been at least 5 degrees below normal since Christmas. Only going up to 15 today, should be closer to 20. But maybe I can finally uncover my herbs this week. We've still been getting frost some nights.
I had to wear gloves during my bike ride to work yesterday. I might sow some of the garden this weekend, but I don't know if I should.
We had frost last night, which is at least three weeks to a month later in the year than when we ought to be concerned at all about protecting our plants.
It's been 2C almost every night here for a week. Regardless, I'm planting my garden this weekend - can't wait any longer. Supposed to be 4C tonight which is above freezing - right?
It's been 2C almost every night here for a week. Regardless, I'm planting my garden this weekend - can't wait any longer. Supposed to be 4C tonight which is above freezing - right?
Closing for length.