One thing worth remembering while you dig out the broken branches: We are not alone. Case in point, check out the gallery of 2006 blizzard images at The Flickr Blizzard Gallery

It started yesterday, huge fluffy clumps of snow floating down; by nightfall, we could hear great whumps as branchloads of wet snow slipped from the trees down on to the roof. By morning, the yard was an alien landscape criss-crossed with fallen branches.

2400 families are without hydro this morning. Our lights only flickered a few times through the evening, and only once long enough to reboot the computers and make the microwave's clock go on blink; just a hundred feet to the east of us our neighbours have been without power for most of the night. Roads are said to be 'treacherous' and travel is not advised; it's wet, it's slippery, and there's lots of it.

And so begins the long road to our Early Spring! Seems Willie's got some 'splainin' to do ...

Heads up!

From an aurora borealis notification service I subscribe to:

AURORA WATCH September 11-14

Sunspot region 808 produced several major X- and M-class flares during the last few days. The first of a series of coronal mass ejections from these events are expected to reach the Earth tonight. Observers at high and middle latitudes are encouraged to watch the skies through September 14. Major to isolated severe geomagnetic storm levels are possible. Isolated periods of activity may be strong enough to be observed as far south as Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, northern Utah, Nebraska, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia. Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Ukraine, central Russia, New Zealand and southern Australia may see periods of auroral activity as well.

Let's hope for clear skies!

Better check your sump pumps and tug your boat moorings: latest projections show Tropical Storm nee Hurricane Katrina is due to be pounding on our doorsteps roughly 1:00am this Wednesday, with heavy rains and winds up near 60km/hr rampaging across the whole of southern Ontario and on up into northern Quebec.

Said to be the most expensive natural disaster in US history and already being compared to the 1965 Hurricane Betsy and the previous heavyweight champ, Hurricane Andrew, but however bad it may get around these parts mid-week, it's a whole lot worse down in Louisiana ...

At least 100,000 people without means of transportation are believed to remain in the city, although some have made their way to "shelters of last resort" including the Superdome. The government made no attempt to assist the evacuation of those without automobiles. It is worried that if the city floods, it will be nearly impossible to get them out of the shelters, leaving tens of thousands of Americans at risk of death over the coming days.
[ via Hurricane Katrina - Wikipedia ]

Yowsa! Just past Earth Day and yes, you heard right. After a balmy start that's had many people and businesses gnawing at their bits to get up and into beachside living, cottage country is blooming ... under an inch of snow. When Willie said "Early spring," he never said it would stay!

But fear not all you bravehearted cottagers who've trekked up this weekend to tangle the cobwebs for the '05 season, as they say, this too shall pass and Environment Canada assures us a chilly Sunday and early week, but all of it above the freezing point. It may not be weather fit to tan, but I think it's probably safe to unsheath the barbeque and turn the water back on.

Thinking of snow? From CalTech, something to wile away the hours while awaiting the Early Spring, an online museum of snow crystal photography...

"I estimate the ratio of snowmobilers to snow crystal photographers is roughly a million to one! I have to say I'm at a loss to explain such a high ratio. Snow crystal photography requires some expensive equipment and spending long hours in the cold, but so does snowmobiling."
[ from Snowflake and Snow Crystal Photos ]

I know what you want to know: Should I buy a sweater? Or a thong.

Well, you can bet on the latter: Before an enthusiastic Wednesday morning crowd of media, dignitaries and about 300 of the groundhog faithful -- and many more on shortwave, FM and marine-band -- Wiarton Willie delivered his annual prediction:

Early Spring!

It was pretty tense too, touch and go, no clear-cut decision right up until Willie took the stage to confer with Mayor Noble.

The kids and I stood next to a weather man from CFRB doing his live-remote, and even he looked up at 2 minutes to go and peered into the sort-of patchy but not-quite clear-through cloud cover and just shrugged.

Hello all -

As a year-round cottager at Sauble, I have often thought how great it would be if some year-rounder at Sauble had a webcam placed in their backyard. That way, we commuters could see what the snow-pack is like before heading up. Now that Sauble has high-speed access, it wouldn't take much. Gary?

Peace,

sabrinus

High winds and grey skies over the beach today -- someone said yesterday's early morning rain was so thick they couldn't see the far side of their deck; May came back from the shops this morning with news that there's scant few leaves still clinging to any branches and we can feel the howl and hum of the wind through the wires on our antenna. Welcome to late-autumn on the Great Lakes.

By the time it comes around back to October and November, I think we've forgotten really how many ships and crew have been lost to the weather on the Lake; to give the rest of you a peek at what we put up with over the Storm Season, Tom Boyle has some sky-pics posted from a Ferndale point of view ...

From a vantage point just south of the storm I could see its cyclonic shape and inside of it was trapped an interesting cloud formation the shape of a big fat cigar. In a period of three minutes I experienced a 180 degree shift in the wind direction form northerly to southerly. Associated lightening striking over the Bay added to the show.

[ via A Storm ]