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Week of December 29th, 2019

Weekly Temperature
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Dec 29 Dec 30 Dec 31 Jan 01 Jan 02 Jan 03 Jan 04
High 1.3 7.7 3.1 1.8 8.3 6.4 3.5
Low -2.2 0.2 0.0 -3.9 -0.6 2.3 -1.4

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

Walking down the boardwalk at night on December 29th – heading east around 7:00 PM, east of Beach Drive.
Walking down the beach earlier in the day December 29th. As you can see the beach is a disaster. Frozen slush along the shore. This picture taken near 16th street looking east. Ice from high waves are unfortunately damaging more trees along the shore given the record high water levels.
Monday December 30th, 2019 – Looking west along the shore from my daily walk – midway along the beach. Ice on the shore and a new sand dune off-shore. Super hard to walk along the beach today. I retreated from the beach to Shore Lane regularly because walking on ice chunks was too hard.
Monday December 30th, 2019 – Beach one on an unusually warm day before New Years eve. Note that the road is covered by sand and water due to the record high water levels on Georgian Bay.
Wednesday, January 1st, 2020 – Unusual  to see so little ice along the shore this time of year.
Wednesday January 1st, 2020 – I created this graphic to illustrate how much the water level has changed in two years. The damage along the beach from high water is enormous.
Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 – This is the boardwalk west of beach drive – looking west toward the Blue Mountains.
Thursday, January 2nd, 2020 – Looking toward Beach Drive from the western boardwalk on a really ugly day!
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Week of December 22nd, 2019

Weekly Temperature
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec 25 Dec 26 Dec 27 Dec 28
High 11.8 9.5 2.6 4.1 4.2 7.4 5.5
Low -2.1 1.1 -6.4 -1.6 0.3 3.0 -1.6

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

Monday, December 23rd, 2019 – Looking across the Nottawasaga Bay from 16th street on a mild Monday morning. This ice is still hanging in along the shore. The debris in the foreground is from earlier storms that have eroded the waterfront.
Tuesday, December 24th, 2019 – This is the drainage culvert near 17th street N. The town had to bring in heavy equipment to keep the storm sewers clear. Waves and high water have resulted in the shore being covered with ice chunks  making it difficult to walk along most sections of the beach.
Wednesday, December 25th, 2019 – Taken looking east from near 13th street towards beach one. It’s tough walking down the beach with so much ice along the shore, but I managed to walk my regular route from 18th street to beach one and back. The grass on the right use to slope gently to the shore, but high water and waves have created “cliffs of sand”.
Thursday, December 26th, 2019 – Taken looking east from near 16th street.
Friday, December 27th, 2019 – This is the eastern boardwalk near the main beach looking west. You can see what a mess the high water has made of the beach with snow and sand pushed up against the boardwalk and logs and organic debris thrown on-shore. During high winds, snow mixes with sand and drifts across the boardwalk and when the snow melts only the sand remains.
Friday, December 27th, 2019 – The water is not high today because winds are from the south, but as this picture shows, Beach One is a mess. This is normally a roadway, but the beach has taken over with waves reaching all the way to the shops when winds are from the northwest. Sandbags are protecting the low-lying store fronts, but I’ve got to assume there is some water damage inside these businesses. The town has closed beach drive for the winter. There is no use trying to clean things up given the high-water.
Saturday, December 28th, 2019 – Today I walked out to the far-east end of Wasaga Beach towards the river outlet. This picture taken looking west from sand-covered parking lots.
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Week of December 15th, 2019

Weekly Temperature
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Dec 15 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec 19 Dec 20 Dec 21
High 2.0 3.1 1.5 -2.2 -8.7 -5.0 1.8
Low -4.1 -5.1 -3.7 -15.7 -19.3 -16.8 -11.0

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

Sunday, December 15th, 2019 – Strong northwest winds today have waves coming up close to the boardwalk. This picture taken from the boardwalk just west of beach one with the Blue Mountains in the distance.
Sunday, December 15th, 2019 – Taken from the same location looking east. You can see structures in the distance that are normally “high and dry” now underwater as waves pummel Beach Drive.
Sunday, December 15th, 2019 – We’ve had enough cold nights that the Nottawasaga River is frozen. This picture was taken from Second street looking south to Nancy Island across the Nottawasaga River.  You can read about Nancy Island and the HMS Nancy during the war of 1812..
Wednesday, December 18th, 2019 – Taken from the boardwalk near 5th street looking west into a snow squall.
Wednesday, December 18th, 2019 – Looking east across the boardwalk toward the main beach. Usually the beach is wide at this point, but water levels on Georgian Bay are at record highs.
Thursday, December 19th, 2019 – The ice was cool (as in interesting) today. There were high winds and the previous night and temperatures near -20C. This tree near 17th street had a lot of ice accretion in the past 24 hours. We easily picked up 50 feet of new shore ice overnight out in the distance – I assume that the winds must have been high enough to blow a lot of moisture from crashing waves against this tree to create the ice build-up.
Friday, December 20th, 2019 – We’ve had three nights in a row below -15C. Technically it is not winter yet, but today felt like a January day. It was awesome for walking. The ice across the bay froze across the surface, but it is hard to sustain ice this time of year. Historically in December the water temperature @ Wasaga Beach ranges between 3C and 8C. It takes long periods of sustained cold in January and December to get the great lakes down to the freezing point.
Friday, December 20th, 2019 – Taken looking south from the boardwalk near beach one in the morning. Today was simply awesome!
Friday, December 20th, 2019 – Another cold, crisp day. This is the usual pattern of shore ice build up that we see every winter. This picture taken looking west towards the ski hills @ Blue Mountain. You can see the Collingwood Terminal across the far shore.
Friday, December 20th, 2019 – Taken from the eastern boardwalk looking south towards the comfort station just east of the main beach. The sun is low in the sky to the south this time of year. My friend Paul Field will get a kick out of this. This is where he went swimming just a few short months ago!
Friday, December 20th, 2019 – Looking west across the Bay – it’s beginning to look like winter around here.
Saturday, December 21st, 2019 – My Mom and I trekked out to enjoy great weather on Saturday. My Mom standing in front of a frozen Nottawasaga River taken east of beach one looking south-east. Mom and Dad are doing the sensible thing and heading off to their place in Florida around the New Year.
Saturday, December 21st, 2019 – The main beach looking west. I’m glad that snow has covered up the sand covering beach drive. The road is closed to traffic because of high water.
Saturday, December 21st, 2019 – Looking across the Bay from beach one towards the Blue Mountains.