Winter finally hit this week and froze the bay. I doubt we will see open water for a while given the forecast. The temperatures above come from “Alf’s Weather aka IWASAGA4” at weatherunderground.com.
I was surprised to see the -30.8 temperature on January 11th. I’ve never seen it this cold since moving to Wasaga Beach. Possibly some of the very cold temperatures were localized. Our outdoor thermometer at home said -25 (still cold! )
Sunday, January 9th, 2022 – It was relatively warm when this picture was taken (around freezing) but the north winds were strong. You can see the waves pounding the ice berms offshore. For some reason, the water up-close looks green. I’m not sure why. There were no filters on this picture.
Monday, January 10th, 2022 – Walking down the beach Monday was literally like walking into a blizzard. It was -10C and windy late morning. I had to cut my walk short because walking along the snowmobile trails in soft snow was just too tiring to go all the way to beach one. This picture was taken looking east from near 16th street into snowsqualls.Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 – We woke up to very cold temperatures on Tuesday. We have a programmable thermostat and let our house temperature fall to 19C overnight. That was a mistake as it turned out. Our cat Dixie in the morning sitting on the heating grate by the front door to keep warm. (You would never know it, but Dixie is 20 years old) Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 – It was around -18C when I took this picture. The bay is finally frozen solid. When it is really cold I often see what looks like mist / grey clouds offshore. I’m not sure, but I speculate that these clouds are formed by the relatively warm open water in the distance meeting freezing air.Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 – I took a second walk in the evening. Cold, but no wind. Looking north from near beach 6 as the sun was setting. Beautiful looking out on the ice. Beyond the ice berms, the ice is smooth enough to skate on. (although you won’t catch me trying to do that when the bay was open just two days earlier!)Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 – Walking down Shore Lane looking easy at the end of my walk. Just before taking the trail through the woods that connects to the Recplex.Wednesday, January 12th, 2022 – This tiny snowman has been standing for around a week now near 50th street. It’s great that despite all the people walking, skiing, and snowmobiling down the beach everyone has left this little guy alone.Thursday, January 13th, 2022 – It was a little warmer on Thursday. Looking across the bay to the ski hills at Blue Mountain.Friday, January 14th, 2022 – We were back into the deep freeze on Friday, down to -20C overnight. The water levels are no longer a problem. This picture was taken looking east across the main beach.Saturday, January 15th, 2022 – A very cold evening just before sunset. Taken looking across a frozen bay near 57th street looking towards Collingwood. You can see the strange clouds (that I think show the location of open water) are now far from shore.Saturday, January 15th, 2022 – Apparently snow machines are a lot faster than four-wheelers. Lots of people racing up and down the beach today. It’s nice to see the sun. It is so often cloudy in this area in the winter.
