| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 05 | Feb 06 | Feb 07 | Feb 08 | Feb 09 | Feb 10 | Feb 11 | |
| High | 0 | 0 | 4 | -2 | -3 | -5 | 2 |
| Low | -5 | -8 | -1 | -8 | -12 | -10 | -5 |
I’m trying to be positive about February and put on a brave face, but I need to be honest – winter is getting old. Walking down the beach is still interesting though and different every day.
On February 5th we once again had high winds. I’ve been watching this beautiful home shuttered for the winter at the far east end of Shore Lane. The west winds were finally too much for the Canadian flag as you can see below.
Also on February 5th as I got down toward Beach 1 I saw a family head out on the ice obviously trying to get a look at the water. I think it is safe enough given the cold temperatures, but I would be awfully careful near the edge of the ice. It is far enough from shore now that the water is deep, and if you fell in the water, not only are you out of sight from the shore, but it would be almost impossible to get out of the water with the high waves.
Rather than walking from Beach 3 to Beach 1 (my usual route), I walked from 18th street west from Beach 3 to Beach 5 a couple of days this week for a change of scenery. There are some different pictures of Beach 4 and Beach 5 in my February 7th gallery.
On February 8th we had another ice storm and schools were closed. I don’t think the picture below does this justice, but the entire beach was glazed in a full centimeter of ice. I tried to walk on the beach but managed only a single block and cut north to Shore Lane at 17th street where the roads were treated with salt / sand. We had high winds again as you can see by the snowing blowing across the ice below.
February 9th (below) was colder. Unfortunately it was still pretty much impossible to walk down the beach any distance because of glare ice under a thin layer of snow. I managed to walk a block, but needed to retreat to Shoreline again where the roads were plowed. Below is one of my favorite pictures yet – looking across Nottawasaga Bay to Collingwood and Blue Mountain. You can see why it is called Blue Mountain! Today was one of the few days you could have skated quite a distance on the ice right near the shore.
On February 10 the we got more snow and the schools were closed for the second day this week. (Jamie is definitely having a good week).
It was possible to walk on the beach because there was a little more snow, but underneath the snow, you can see below it is glare ice. It was still treacherous. You could see areas where snow machines had tried to make a turn and just skidded across the ice. Very little traction for the skis.
The picture below taken around 2:00 PM just as a lake effect snow band was ending on Friday. Between the snow plow clearing the roads, and the drifting snow coming off the water, it was difficult to get down to the shoreline from around 16th street.
By Saturday things had warmed up again. It became easier to walk on the beach only because the snow had gotten sticky and there were some well packed snowmobile trails. The picture below taken on February 11th looking to the north.
