Winter's Icy Grasp

Yesterday's welcome combination of sunshine and mild temperatures (just below zero Celsius) led to a rapid thaw, before the next influx of polar air caused the mercury to plummet sharply again in late afternoon.

The ensuing sequence of sublimation and supercooling created an eerie ice fog that began to roll in around sunset, followed by a spectacular adhesion to surfaces, including weeping willow branches and other dendritic appendages.

One might say it had a "chilling" effect.

Groundhog Day!

The inevitable blast of "real winter" in the Banana Belt kept us hunkered at home instead of attending Superbowl festivities in Windsor. Some records were broken in Detroit as far as accumulation over a short period of time, but the drifting and blowing snow was the real danger.

Our road didn't get plowed all day the following day, and no garbage pickup. Not only buses cancelled but schools closed all over SW Ontario and Michigan.

Not sure how the Groundhog saw anything, unless some kindly neighbour shovelled him out. Luckily we had the good sense to park out at the road when the squalls started......

Where the cars would have been!

Uneven distribution

The new trek to the cars

Sunshine over an undulating blanket of white