2019 walks

A snowy week in January. We’ve had enough cold nights that ice has started to form on the bay at least close to shore.        

This was a week with some pretty good storms and high waves. I have no idea how these kite sailors get out in the water ...

We’re in the depths of winter this week, but I managed to get at least part way down the beach every day. I usually start ...

It was tough to walk down the beach this week with so much snow and blowing snow.  In places there were snowmobile trails, but blowing ...

There are new signs most of the way along Wasaga Beach warning people about the dangers of walking out on the ice berms. The berms ...

No shortage of snow this winter so far. My wife Michelle has been enjoying tooling around in her fancy new red Jeep – perfect for ...

So far we haven’t had much of a break weather-wise. Lots of overcast snow days. The only reason that there is not more accumulation along ...

The days are beginning to get a little longer again. I was able to walk down the beach in the evening this week out on ...

The beach this week was like a super-highway full of snowmobile trails. Perfect conditions for walking out on the ice with a little bit of ...

We often start to get some nice weather in late March. It will be interesting to see if that pattern holds this year. It hasn’t ...

In March as long as the ice conditions are favorable, the kite sailors surf up and down the 14 km length of Wasaga Beach on ...

What a difference a week makes. Suddenly it feels like Spring as March goes out like a lamb.  

I may have spoken just a little too soon about March going out like a lamb in my last post as we received a fresh ...

This week we saw a rapid thaw with ice retreating from the shoreline out. There is still enough ice in the berms offshore that they ...

The thaw continued this week with dustings of snow. Despite warm temperatures the ice is still persistent out on the bay.  

This is the week that we finally lost all the ice. As usual, when the ice melts it leaves all kinds of debris caught up ...

I’m afraid that out shore line has changed dramatically. I’m concerned that the water appear to be rising further.

The beach is usually a mess this time of year with debris being washed up on shore from the ice. They just started to grade ...

Weather underground let me down this week I’m afraid. No weather stations near Wasaga Beach have accurate historical climate data.    

It started to become apparent this week that 2019 will be a  different kind of summer with high water and a shrinking beach.  

For those wondering, I’m afraid the temperatures shown above for the past few weeks have not been accurate. It’s actually been quite a bit cooler. I ...

It’s been a cold, wet May and June! Finally we are getting some decent weather. The weekend of June 8th finally felt like summer. Much of the ...

By the end of this week the annual sand castle competition was in full swing with some excellent entries.  

The sandcastle competition at Wasaga Beach is always a lot of fun. A couple of excellent creations situated at the east end of Beach Drive.

Piping Plovers are an endangered species along Georgian Bay. Every year, volunteers engage in a serious expert to protect the nesting area for these birds ...

A super fun week with out of town guests who came to enjoy the beach. We managed to have a family get together at our ...

I think we may be among the few beneficiaries of climate change here on South Georgian Bay (this year at least).  We need some warmer ...

It’s funny how we wait for warm weather all winter and we want it to cool down once it’s here. The early part of this ...

We had an out of town guest this week and got to show them around Wasaga Beach. Kind of cool when a biplane buzzed low ...

For the later part of this week I shifted my daily walks from South Georgian Bay (Wasaga Beach) to North Georgian Bay (visiting Manitoulin Island) ...

I was working on the Civic Holiday (August 5th) so I headed down for my usual noon walk down the beach thinking it was a ...

Not that you need to be a physicist to walk down Wasaga beach, but apparently it helps. I actually met and talked to a physicists (OK ...

August is the best month to enjoy the beach. The days are getting shorter, but the water is warm and there is something magical about ...

After floods at beach one this summer, the town did a remarkable job getting beach one back in shape. With Georgian Bay this high however, ...

Last week I predicted problems with waves given the high water. Sure enough, it didn’t take until November. Beach Drive flooded again this week. With ...

I can’t get over how the beach gets “deserted” after Labor Day.  The temperatures are a little cooler and high water is still an issue.    

The days are pleasant and the nights are cool. Interesting to see how changing weather conditions are contributing to sand dunes off shore.      

September is my favorite month of the year. The beach is empty, and the days are generally nice and warm.

Note the new 0.1 degree resolution in temperature postings above. I’ve been frustrated trying to get accurate weather history for Wasaga Beach over the past ...

October brings skies that you just don’t see in the summer.  Also, the beach gets so quiet that wildlife starts to re-appear.  

October brought some high winds this week. While great for kite surfers,  high water and winds are doing damage to properties along the beach. Beach Drive ...

In late October the leaves are simply awesome. We’re lucky to live on a property with maple trees that all turn bright red. In early ...

November brings epic storms. The worst of the damage was down overnight and I’m afraid I didn’t get pictures of the actual wind. The damage ...

Happy Halloween! We’re juggling work schedules to pick up leaves. I need to dress in winter clothing to walk the beach with the persistent high ...

The temperatures turned cold early November and we have snow squalls. We got our leaves picked up just in time.

I think that this week shows that protecting beach drive from high water is a losing cause. Better to focus on protecting the businesses along ...

As friends know, it’s been surprisingly difficult to get accurate weather data for the table above. I’m often posting pictures a week or two after ...

It gets tricky to walk down the beach in the winter. Generally the colder the better. Best to have the beach frozen solid rather than ...

Because of high waters, it was very hard to walk down Wasaga Beach this week. Oh well.

Tough to walk down the beach with high winds and water this week.

Beach drive is covered with sand this year because of high water on Georgian Bay.

My last week walking down the beach in 2019! A rough year for beach front properties with so much high water.