Ottawa Blizzard

On 2/17/2022 at 2:05 PM, Buckeyes_Suck said:

Same as most, PCR within 3 days or rapid within 1 day. If your vax'd no quarantine, i think if your unvax'd you quarantine when you get there until a second test comes back negative.

Currently they require masks in all public places, but at least we can rent a car and things are open. When we went to St Lucia this time last year we literraly had to be shuttled to and from the house and couldn't leave the property.

Were planning our next Europe trip now for early July and will probably go somewhere that has relaxed requirements. The big think I'd like to see happen is canada calm down, because flying out of toronto is so much easier. For Barabados we have to fly to NYC tomorrow and then Barbados Sat.

As of February 28th, I believe, only a negative rapid test, as opposed to PCR, is required for vaccinated people to enter Canada.

Looks like the police up in Ottawa have managed to clear the trucker protest, after 3 weeks. 

1 hour ago, SouthBuffaloSteve said:

Yeah I’m not expecting the River Ice to go anywhere.  I’m going down to see the Lake ice once the Seiche rises to around 4-5’ the lake level will be above the booms max height causing it to submerge and then the ice will get pushed over top of it and start to rapidly fill into the Niagara River.  

I drove down to an area near the Humber River here in Toronto, where there is currently a massive ice jam. While I was standing on the bridge, looking at the jam, the ice suddenly started to move. Pretty amazing to see the power of nature.

6" reported at YYZ. I've measured 8" in my back yard, away from drifts.

1 hour ago, SouthBuffaloSteve said:

If the ice made it out of the Buffalo River last night then it’s on its way over today.   Tomorrow morning will also be interesting as we look at have a short window of WSW winds gusting over 50mph which will very likely cause the lake level to rise above the height of the boom and we could see a violent ice flow exit the lake into the upper Niagara River for a few hours.  

Really interesting.  Thanks for the info!

I've driven down to Niagara a couple of times over the past two months and have been surprised by the lack of even a thin ice bridge, despite it having been the coldest January/February period since 2015. Perhaps it's due to December having been so mild? 

As discussed in earlier posts last month, I imagine the reason we don't see massive ice bridges like those seen in photographs from the 19th century and first half of the 20th is at least in part due to the existence of the ice boom since the 1950s.

7 hours ago, SouthBuffaloSteve said:

Just got super lucky with my timing today on several occasions.  Flows were very strong so while we did see small pockets of flooding the ice kept moving for the most part.  Was trying to setup a time lapse up at Silo City and RiverWorks but was just to dark.  Filled up so fast once the ice started piling in.  Had better lighting at canal side but I was out of energy at that point and just packed it in.  This would have been an awesome view of the entire flow rushing out into the Lake.  There’s a low foggy haze over the skyline and above the ice just adds to the feel of it!

I wonder if any of this ice will make its way over the falls to start creating an ice bridge?

10 minutes ago, Owensnow said:

Complete whiteout

convective snows 

+SN and more

Awesome. Thinking we should make 8"...at least

8 minutes ago, snowstormcanuck said:

Glad it's working out for you.  You were getting a little down there

1 hour ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Yeah Toronto is jackpot location for this 

Never thought I'd ever hear someone say that. Normally Toronto gets far less snow than pretty much everywhere around it. 

10 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

33 here in Hamburg. Line stalled out over Canada Ohio upgraded to warning lots of ice. Thinking 1-2” of snow/sleet here with .25-.3 freezing rain. 

Heavy snow here in Toronto at the moment. We should get 6" at least, think there's a chance for 8-10".

13 minutes ago, blizzardof96 said:

Pouring rain here in Kingston with snow being reported in Ottawa. Mixing line located from north of Belleville - Perth - Kemptville, expected to push southeast over the next few hours. Expecting a fairly decent amount of PL before changeover to snow.

Heavy snow at my place in Toronto now. 

Been snowing steadily in Toronto since about 5 PM.  Thinking we should have a pretty good shot at 6".

2 minutes ago, mississaugasnow said:

Lol I know you’ve mentioned your a winter guy so what I’m about to say will probably make no sense. 
 

Almost identical set up two weeks ago and I was stressing about when the switch over will happen ect.. 

Since I get into spring fever after mid February this storm means nothing to me haha. Rain all night and I wouldn’t be upset. It’s in the 40s and sunny by Sunday/Monday so the snow won’t be around long anyways. 

Potentially more snow next week. This winter is likely not ending until mid March, at least.

6 minutes ago, mississaugasnow said:

I think so as well but can never be certain, so I’m following it on some discords 

also 33F and rain here so I’m not missing much. Looking upstream at London and I think we might get a prolonged period of freezing rain instead of snow. 

It's been snowing here in north Toronto for an hour now. 

Ice pellets currently falling here in northeast Toronto. Will hopefully change to all snow between 6 and 7PM. Thinking 4-6" for Toronto in total.

4 minutes ago, snowstormcanuck said:

Flipped to ZR about 45 mins ago. SN being reported just to the west. Shouldn't lose too much qpf during the transition.  hopefully.

Ice pellets falling here. Thinking we change to snow between 6 and 7PM, snow lasts until 2 AM.

25 minutes ago, snowstormcanuck said:

Already over 0.75" of rain at YYZ.  Decent shot of a AOA 2" storm total, which is pretty impressive for Feb.

This seems to be looking like a decent event for us, at least - 6" I would say.

1 hour ago, Sub_Zero said:

Still holding on to some cold for now, hoping for a big dump in downtown Ottawa to motivate the truckers to go home 

Imagine if there's 10-12" of snow in Ottawa? The trucks will be snowed in and no plows will be able to get through.

I'm starting to get cautiously optimistic about my chances for a good snow event in Toronto. Hoping Buffalo and Niagara, at least, can get in on the action as well.

10 minutes ago, snowstormcanuck said:

Thinking with the trends maybe EC gets arm twisted into a watch. Even down in your hood and Niagara, the "warmer" NCEP solutions look like a decent ice storm.

It seems to be looking more like snow than freezing rain for Toronto. Niagara might be where the freezing rain is, I'm thinking. 

Just now, rochesterdave said:

I’d think you still need it south from the consensus. Toronto definitely on the rain/snow line

True. I could honestly do without the rain, but it looks inevitable at this point.

2 hours ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Euro is really close 

Not too south please. I'd like to join in the fun up here in Toronto. 

What a mess it will be on Friday morning...likely a skating rink outside, what with the flash freeze.

13 hours ago, BuffaloWeather said:

 

I mean there is some sarcasm to it. I cheer for snow from Nov 1st-Mid March. My philosophy is if it isn't going to snow may as well be warm out. Cold/dry is the worst pattern, even Tughill agreed with this.

I'm more of an extreme weather fan more than anything else. High winds, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, blizzards, I love them all almost equally. When most people here disappear from the forum in spring/summer I'm still really active in severe threads around AMX and especially during Hurricane season. The only thing that stands above them all for me is an extreme LES event.

Summer is my favorite season though.

I have to agree for the most part, although I wouldn't want to experience a tornado - I'm a much bigger fan of winter severe weather as opposed to summer severe.

Extremes are the way to go though. Ideally, I like at least one 12" snowfall per year, one "zero day" per winter, and one 95 degree day in the summer. I couldn't handle living in a place like Seattle or Vancouver. Not enough variance in the weather, and I really dislike cold rain in the winter.

8 hours ago, BuffaloWeather said:

GFS showing temps near 70 next week

If this year keeps with the theme of the past 5, we'll have a sudden surge of springlike weather in late February and early March, followed by a cold April and May. 

15 hours ago, BuffaloWeather said:

GFS came back south, huge hit for Toronto, Goes right over Jamestown.

Oh man. If only. One more big hit like that, and this winter would be made for me. I'd be ready for spring.