"22 Amazing Photos of the Ontario Ice Storm"

[james_davis_nicoll]

Picture is a link

Comments

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of the big storm we had in Minneapolis this year, only with snow and ice.

Not actually being from Minnesota, I am of the opinion that added snow and ice do not improve matters.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of the ice storm in Rochester, NY in 1991. Woke up to the power out and tree limbs exploding.

Rochester lost 40% of its trees in that storm. Any estimate on what fraction Toronto lost?

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

That balloon picture was awesome.

We had an ice storm a few years ago with similar results, but over a much smaller area.

[alyxyn.livejournal.com]

That is astounding.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

The coffee cup amuses.

Several of the others are disturbing in terms of the awe they inspire.

Would that streets as skating rinks was something that had been planned instead of an accident.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

My word. I sincerely hope there were no deaths.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

There have certainly been some and it's unlikely they've all been reported yet.

For cutting the power to a couple major hospitals, not anything like as bad as it could have been.

Unfortunately

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

At least two that I know of so far, from CO inhalation.

Re: Unfortunately

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Up to five now.

Re: Unfortunately

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I am sorry.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

One winter when I was at William and Mary, Williamsburg got a combined snow/ice storm with several inches of snow, followed by a crust of freezing rain like this one on top of the lumpy snow.

The ice was thick enough that you couldn't step through it (though it would have been a hazard to ankles if you could). It became literally impossible to walk upright in Williamsburg, and driving wasn't a good idea either. People were getting around by crawling on all fours.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

That's a common weather pattern here around DC too -- ice-snow-ice, snow-ice, snow-ice-snow; winter precipitation is always an adventure.

[iayork.livejournal.com]

I remember one like that when I was a kid, on a farm near Ottawa. Ice thick enough to skate on, on top of two feet of snow. The snow drifts were high enough that we could hop over the fences, so we could literally skate for miles.

For kids, it was unbelievable fun. It must have been a nightmare for the adults.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

That's normally how our relatively rare snows here near Seattle work, too. I think of it as an ice sandwich.

I used to live in the Midwest and Colorado and drove on snow there without any more than the usual precautions. When it snows here I'm terrified to drive.

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

That brings back fond memories of many an ice storm through the years. :)
We lost a white birch (which don't grow so well here to start with) in a series of two ice storms a few days apart many, many moons ago.

[awesomeaud.livejournal.com]

Funny how we never get just plain freezing rain anymore. It's always an "ice storm" instead.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I think it's a function of how thick the ice gets [g].

[(Anonymous)]

We do. Environment Canada has made several predictions of freezing rain this year, but only the one ice storm. The difference is that an ice storm produces a significant accumulation of ice, although I don't remember the exact amount.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

We had freezing rain in Montreal while Toronto and the Eastern Townships were having their ice storm. It's quite a big difference.

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I'm in Mississauga right now visiting family for the holidays, and if you ignore the implications the scene is quite pretty with sunlight glinting off the frozen branches. However, given that there are a half-dozen trees down in the three blocks I walked with my Dad before giving up on the exercise and returning to the condo.

-- Steve found the ride here a bit fraught; not the drive, but the VIA station had run out of salt and sand before the platforms had quite been cleared... penguin shuffling down half a train-length with a load of Christmas gifts definitely helped keep off some holiday pounds.

[liabrown]

There are still lines down on the sidewalk in midtown Toronto right now -- hopefully not live hydro wires. I got some interesting photos, but I'm using my dad's computer and it has the worst image software, so I guess they'll have to wait until my return to K-W. Most people are not salting their sidewalks and residential streets aren't salted either, so it's quite hazardous.

[rwpikul.livejournal.com]

Hydro crews are still fixing things in Guildwood, I only got power back yesterday. I shudder to think how bad it would be if not for all the ash trees[1] that have been cut down this past fall.

At least we've been seeing salt trucks and sidewalk plows, (where the sidewalk isn't blocked).


[1] Have you ever been glad for an infestation of tree killing insects?