What happened to our W*I*N*T*E*R Canada???

Knew it headed East, after all it had just been here a few days ago, but was wondering who in our group would get it after you Joan (other than those in Montreal, etc). Cold, but very sunny here now.......warming up expected by the weekend.

Guess I'll have to get a map of Ontario and put a pin in some of the places I'm not familiar with.

Sandy, I hope you didn't have to go anywhere yesterday.
I put my icers in the car when I went to work and used them to get to the building. I only have to travel 3 km, but I stayed off the main route. Took a longer route to warm the car up a bit better in case the rain started to freeze. That alternate route on a quiet residential street had a 90 left bend at which the car just went straight ahead when I turned the wheel left. It DID eventually turn before I hit the ice bank, but it was close. And I wasn't travelling fast.

I trust your DH eventually got to Toronto. That's a LONG time to be stuck in traffic going nowhere.

I guess we get more snow tomorrow! Actually, I'd like some to soften the ice. Haven't been able to get out on my snowshoes yet.

Ann

I spent some time yesterday shoveling snow on plants again in the beds to try to give them some protection and now I get up this morning to +5 degrees, so much for the snow. We're forecast to get to +10 this afternoon, it's mad, just completely crazy Jan. weather.

Usually the systems start in Windsor, head to the London/Blythe area, then Kitchener/Waterloo, on to me in the Guelph area, I pass them to Joan for Toronto's turn and she gives them a shove to the Peterborough, Kingston area and on to Ottawa before leaving Ontario to bless Quebec and the maritimes. Now if the front should happen to come from the east as it does on rare occasions, we all get hit at once and you can count on it being a bad storm every single time. We don't like east to west systems and there are times we aren't to fond of the west to east bound ones either!

2 more months, 81/2 weeks and it's SPRING!

So who's counting sunkeeper? lol

Joan

Thanks sunkeeper. :) I guess I should have mentioned above that I'm familiar with where the larger centers are in Ontario but am lost otherwise. I've never been east of Lake-of-the-Woods but should have looked at maps when my Grandmother would talk about trips she made down there to visit family (I'm really lost when peeps start talking about regions;).

I'm about to give up, yesterday we went all the way up to +10, snow cover gone again off everything and I wake up to more freezing rain today. I just looked at the forecast and it's saying hours of it before changing over to snow.

I'd best get off here and get winter sowing so at least I'll have new plants to put out in the spring after everything else is dead from lack of any protection from the elements Mother Nature has thrown at us.

I don't ever remember a year gardening that's been such a challenge, the heat of last summer, lack of rain and now this mess of what is suppose to be winter. I don't think the plants stand a chance but I'm still hoping!

Sunkeeper

We've had some snowfall this morning - enough to make the ground white, but it's melting on the roadways as it's not cold out. 0°, going up to 2 later on. Next few days calls for about the same with clearer skys.

About the winter sowing SK, is it OK to do this when it's not really cold? I'm just learning about this procedure so any info would be appreciated.

I agree, it's been a challenging year all round. Joan

A light snow here yesterday evening but it probably wont last long as I hear the temp is going up above freezing - a lot - in a couple of days!

Well, we had a bit of snow and freezing rain last night. It's all starting to melt now.

Blissful sun here in Victoria - for the first time in the last couple of weeks. Went to try to help a friend in her community garden -new weedy plot- Much too wet and sticky so gave up & went for long walk instead.

Now,
Sat. AM.. light rain again.

Have to work out how to move - pot up - 8 very large climbing roses while foundation of house here is worked on. Work will start April 1 - bad timing?? - supposedly. When is the best time to pot up the roses and how much should they be cut back? Talking here about roots as well as top growth.

Any ideas?

inanda

Winter is doing just fine here. Maybe if you are lucky, inanda, it will all be over when you get back.

Welcome luckygardnr! I don't recall "seeing" you here before. Another new member?
--Ginny

Edited for aging memory :-) You introduced yourself - and I welcomed you then. Maybe I need some kinda memory pills or somethin'

This message was edited Jan 23, 2006 11:44 AM

Hi,
Here in PEI we are having one our FIRST cold days this winter. -8C It's been very warm. I'm not sure I like this "warmness" as it means a very long mud season considering that spring doesn't arrive here until June. Not to mention that I'm getting a very serious case of spring fever already. I can't stop looking in seed catalogs. :-(

Another new member! Welcome Booswalia. From Ginny in mid-western Ontario.

Thanks Ginny. It's nice to be here.

Another welcoming wave to luckygardnr and Booswalia from Pam in very similar conditions...
3 C here and a lot of damp (spotty rain) and now ☼ skies again.

We had about a week of an almost average (but warmish) zone 3 winter but now I'm back in a balmy zone 8 winter .


This message was edited Jan 23, 2006 5:21 PM

Very windy here today but back up to 8C and probably higher tomorrow - most of the snow is gone again! I know the ground is still frozen but it always seems I loose a few plants when there is poor snow cover.

Welcome from Calgary to the new Canadian members .

Booswalia - York, PEI That's Veseys Country. Welcome aboard.

Ken

Hi Ken,
Yes, it is Vesey country. I go by the store every morning. And believe me at this time of year, when I'm suffering from spring fever, it takes everything in me not to go in and start spending all my money. It really is a great store. (no affiliation)
Just holding back the reins.

Noticed Farmer's Almanac also predicted a drier summer for Western Canada.

Found this while looking at different weather related articles:

n fact, the longer people study climate, the more they shake their heads at how events in one part of the globe have effects that seem impossibly remote on regions halfway around the world.

Last year, for example, NASA announced it had solved the riddle of what made the "Dust Bowl" conditions on the Prairies in the 1930s.

The Goddard Space Flight Center used a computer model and modern satellite data, and found that cool water in the tropical Pacific and unusually warm water in the tropical Atlantic changed the atmosphere, which in turn caused the dust bowl.

The changes in sea-surface temperatures created shifts in the large-scale weather patterns and low-level winds, NASA found. This reduced the normal supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and inhibited rainfall across the Prairies.

Normally a low-level jet stream flows westward over the Gulf of Mexico and then turns north, pulling up moisture and dumping rain onto the Prairies, NASA says. In the 1930s, this jet stream weakened and failed to travel north. The Prairies dried up, and so did the farming economy.

But why did the Atlantic and Pacific act this way in the first place? And why did they then return to normal?

No one knows.

quoted from:
Companies: Georgia Tech University (NAICS: 611310 ) , National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NAICS: 927110, Duns:00-325-9074 )
Author(s): Tom Spears
Document types: News
Publication title: CanWest News. Don Mills, Ont.: Dec 19, 2005. pg. 1
Source type: Wire feed
ProQuest document ID: 944182181
Text Word Count 1376
Document URL: [HYPERLINK@proquest.umi.com]

Booswalia,
Hello from a fellow Islander! I am located east of Charlottetown. Isn't Vesey's fantastic! Just checked out their website this morning and the new plants for 2006 are listed. New catty should be coming very soon!

Michelle

I've had my Veseys catalogue for quite a while Michelle - since before Christmas I believe. Joan

Joan,
Is it the new Spring book with the new Perennials for 2006? If so I will have to check in at Veseys tomorrow when I head to Charlottetown. Some great new items!
Michelle

Michelle, It has a strip along the upper right corner that says "2006 Edition - Over 100 New Items!". Front has a picture of a man and a boy with a wagon full of gourds. Joan

Now that I'm back, I will have to get some work done around home. Checking out catalogues is a good start, as is cleaning out all the plants that died while we were away. I hear it wasn't cold, but my musa bajoo (sp) banana looks like it's dead as do a few brugs. Once I'm over the trip recovery time, I'll get out there and see what's salvagable. I'll also get some photos up for you to see, but it won't be for a few days.

Linda in Victoria, back after 6 weeks in NZ

Welcome back Linda! Ü

Give your banana a chance........mine died back last winter but came up again in the spring (unless yours got really wet again).

Looking forward to seeing your pics!!!!

You know, I'm really feeling winter-deprived now that I've seen reports of how much snow Newfoundland has received over the past few days. Actually, I'm positively jealous.
My property is one soaking, muddy mess and things are starting to sprout :o(

Sigh...

Erynne

Pretty much all the little amount of snow we last had has gone again so essentially no snow cover this winter on the perennial beds no matter how much I try to shovel over there - there just has not been much to shovel. Yes terday I noticed some daffodils poking up in the south bed along side the house foundation. There may be more under the leaves on the rest of the bed - that spot was uncovered. I will probably lose a few plants this year.

It's snowing to beat the band here right now, and even though it's been a mild week, we still have snow cover. That means there's enough to go around... I could order a refrigerated truck to deliver you some!

Sandy

This certainly sums our winter up:

The country that winter forgot: Canada basks in record-busting warm spell
"Are we no longer the Great White North? It's incredible," said Environment Canada's David Phillips, the national expert on all things weather wacky.

"We certainly can't feel punished if his prediction is six more weeks of winter, because we haven't had six days of winter," said Phillips, who admits he's stunned by the breadth of collapsing records.

From Saskatoon to Sudbury, Regina to Toronto, Windsor to Halifax - all have enjoyed their warmest January on record. Even Winnipeg, with Portage and Main renowned as the coldest corner in Canada, has averaged a whopping 10 degrees C above normal in what traditionally has been the coldest month.

"We pride ourselves in saying there's no wimps that live in this country. We shun blizzards and sneer at frostbite," Phillips said from Toronto. "But we've done nothing but bask in the warmth (of) those Pacific breezes and almost a national chinook from coast to coast."

It's not like winter evaporated. It has just skirted the world's second largest country and focused its fury on other parts of the globe.

Arctic weather masses have left parts of Europe encased in ice. Greece has endured its heaviest snowfall in a decade. And an extreme cold snap across Russia sent temperatures plummeting to -40C and left dozens dead.

"I don't know if we feel guilty, but we certainly feel as if it's the first year we've cancelled winter," said Phillips. "We've gone years without summer, but never winter."

And there's no end in sight, no matter what the rodents say. Even the long-range forecasts predict a relatively toasty February.

JUDY MONCHUK Tue Jan 31, 2:37 PM ET
[HYPERLINK@news.yahoo.com]


We have about 4" of snow cover remaining here. I wonder how many feet of snow Todd had to remove from his driveway?

Sandy you can send some to fancy (and me too!!! :)

Ugh, ya just had to go and tell me that, didn't you Sandy......grumble, grumble.

Sorry, girls, it's stopped snowing now and if we're in for a toasty Feb, I think I'll be selfish and keep it all to myself. But maybe Todd will be send you some.

Sandy

Oooooooops the article was written prior to Edmonton breaking an all time high record. They were basking in temperatures of +7C yesterday!

Lynn and Ann ........ do you have any snow left?

I'm terrified to ask for some of his!!! Last time I begged Ginny for snow my husband wouldn't talk to me for two days! ;)

That'll larn ya :-)

shhhhhhhhhhhhhh........whispering here.......i'll still take a bit more of yours ginny. :)
pam (whose not going to tell dh of this request;)

(voice lowered) Dear Lord.....Sorry about the whisper, but I don't want to get Pam in trouble.....Please send all the snow I'm supposed to get this weekend to her instead.....This would make her really, really happy.....Thanks.....Amen. Oh, and by the way, could you please make it look like an accident so Pam's dh doesn't get suspicious?

lololol........a very, very quiet but heartfelt thank you is being sent your way ginny! :)
pam

Check out my garden tour on this forum for a photo of my backyard this week, still with about 2 feet of snow. I don't know how to make a hyperlink yet.

Andy go up to the address bar, above the thread you want people to be directed too, and do a left side of mouse click....the link should be highlighted blue. Next do a right side of mouse click (on the address bar) and chose 'cut'. When you want to post it, in another thread's reply box, do another left side click and chose paste (the flashing bar has to be showing in the box first).

If that doesn't work (I may have missed something) go to the puter forum where Milan (PanamonCreel from Quebec) or one of the other puter geniuses can put it into more readily understandable terms. ;)

i'll take a little bit of your snow too. :)

This message was edited Feb 3, 2006 4:37 PM