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 at 18th street and head down to beach one, but if the weather is bad I turn around at 13th street. You can’t go by street numbers in measuring distance. 13th street is roughly the midpoint between 18th street and the middle of beach one.
This week was interesting because we had a thaw and rain mid-week followed by a flash freeze. The beach became treacherous to walk on after the freeze with glare ice under fresh new snow.
Sunday, January 20th, 2019 – The temperature was right around -20C today walking down the beach. There is open water out beyond the ice dunes but it is hard to see. As I’ve explained before, the dunes in the distance are formed by waves with floating slush crashing against the ice and water freezing on contact.Monday, January 21st, 2019 – I walked out on the ice a little to take this picture. Mild north west winds mean open water in the distance. Not dangerous. The water is only thigh deep at this point on the ice. South Georgian Bay is approx. 2 degrees Celsius presently. If the water is still it will freeze in the cold air, but it won’t freeze when the water is moving.Monday, January 21st, 2019 – looking northeast across Nottawasaga Bay. Clear skies to the north and snow squalls to the east. It’s easy to walk along the beach because strong north winds have eroded the frozen beach down to bare sand with good traction. The storm sewer line in the picture is at 17th street.Monday, January 21st, 2019 – Around -15C when I took this picture with the winds were high. Looking the other direction (south) for a change from the beach to the shore. The winds from the north are nasty and you can see that the sand dunes north of the beach are mostly cleared of snow.Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019 – You can see the today was much warmer – no wind and around -6C. Looking straight out from shore towards the northwest from a favorite trail near 13th street.Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 – Another relatively warm and snowy day. Picture taken from the 18th street beach entrance looking west. It is not windy today so the beach is covered with snow.Wednesday, January 23rd, 2019 – snapped this picture near beach 2. Two friendly snowmobilers were the only people I met. (The first snowmobiler visible in the distance if you look closely)Thursday, January 24th, 2019 – The night before, the temperatures got up to six degrees. Before my walk this morning, things had frozen solid. The beach was treacherous. The dark area @ 18th street in the foreground is ice layered over the sand.Thursday, January 24th, 2019 – I’m walking east to the left of the snowmobile track toward beach one because the snowmobile track is glare ice!Friday, January 25th, 2019 – after making it down to the far end of beach one, I see the snowsqualls coming in. Clear to the west, heavy snow to the east.Friday, January 25th, 2019. A conflicted sky east of beach one today. Spectacular day.Friday, January 25th, 2019 – By the time I was walking west across beach one, my usual haunts are enveloped in snow.Friday, January 25th, 2019 – the by time I got to 18th street, snow squalls have passed and there is clear blue sky to the west. You can see a band of snow squalls over the bay to the northwest.Saturday, January 26th, 2019 – Once again, I’m the only one in the parking lot at 18th street.Saturday, January 26th, 2019 – walking down the boardwalk near beach one. Beautiful day. Today it was just me and the snowmobilers. Nobody else in sight.
