I just looked at the Franktown weather radar and cringed when I saw all the colours. Judging by the aviation forecast, the next 24 hours are going to suck. (I apologize for using a highly technical meteorological term, but one must be precise about these things.)

TAF CYOW 091738Z 0918/1018 09015KT P6SM OVC100
FM092100 09015KT P6SM OVC080 TEMPO 0921/0923 11/2SM -SN VV012
FM092300 09015KT 3/4SM -SN VV007 TEMPO 0923/1004 11/2SM -SN VV012
FM100400 09015KT 1/2SM SN VV005 TEMPO 1004/1015 1SM -SN VV010
FM101500 09015KT 4SM -RA BR OVC010
RMK NXT FCST BY 092100Z=

Continuous snow starting anytime after 4pm Ottawa time and carrying on until 10am tomorrow morning when it’s supposed to switch to rain. I can hardly wait.

The City of Ottawa sent out an email this morning advising of an overnight parking restriction from 01:00 to 07:00 because more than 7 cm of snow are forecast to fall. You can sign up for these notifications on their website.

The radar was very colourful…

The roads were slippery and snow covered…

Aren’t you jealous you missed all this because you were asleep?

I was curious as to how close the weather is to arriving, so I checked the Franktown weather radar just now, saw this and thought “eww”.

(more…)

Well, we’re done with February and winter in Ottawa has broken, Monday’s weather notwithstanding. The forecast for the next couple of days is calling for sunshine and warm weather (for Ottawa in the winter).

Sounds like March is coming in like a lamb. If the old adage “in like a lion, out like a lamb” holds true, then the weather at the end of March is going to be spectacularly sucky. (Personally, I’m hoping this doesn’t come true!)

My prediction is that the end of March is going to be damp with maybe one annoying dump of wet snow to remind us that it can snow in the Spring, too. It would be really nice to have a repeat of last year, which saw me golfing on April 2nd, but I’m not going to be so bold as to suggest that will happen two years in a row.

What’s your prediction for the weather at the end of March and why?

The Franktown weather radar is quite colourful this morning. This “colour” has led to the cancellation of school buses and snow covered roads, so far, and the prospect of freezing rain and pellets later today, according to the aviation forecast:

TAF CYOW 281155Z 2812/0112 06012KT 5SM -FZRA -PL BR OVC030 TEMPO
2812/2815 2SM -SNPL OVC020
FM281500 08012KT 1/2SM SN VV004 TEMPO 2815/2821 2SM -SN OVC020
PROB40 2815/2816 3SM -FZRA BR
FM282100 33012G22KT P6SM BKN020
FM282300 31015G25KT P6SM BKN040
FM010300 31015G25KT P6SM SCT040
FM010900 31010KT P6SM SKC
RMK NXT FCST BY 281500Z=

According to Wiarton Willie, Spring is coming soon. Apparently, he poked his head out of his burrow this morning and failed to see his shadow, which is the portent of an early Spring. The cynics among you will appreciate the irony that the weather in Wiarton was so inclement that people gathered under a giant tent to await the news. (Presumably, Willie did not benefit from the tent.)

And he’s not the only Marmota monax who failed to see its shadow. Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam and Puxatawney Phil in Philadelphia both failed to see their shadows, meaning an early Spring is on its way for those parts of the world, too. I’m sure that Nova Scotians were particularly happy by this news given the abysmal winter they’ve had so far this year.

Alberta’s Balzac Billy, on the other hand, apparently saw his shadow and fled to the safety of his burrow. So, it seems that Alberta’s in for another six weeks of winter, while the rest of us can toss away our winter coats, dig the sunscreen out of the cupboard and start basking in the sunshine.

Well… after all the^$!@$% snow that fell today melts!

I’ve written about this a couple of times in the past, but it’s been a few months since I last blogged about it so I thought it was worth revisiting.

Earlier today I started feeling crummy and several hours later I’m still feeling crummy. Checking the air pressure reading on Environment Canada’s website, I can see that I started feeling crummy shortly after the air pressure started falling. In fact, in the last six hours, the pressure has dropped almost 0.5 kPa.

This isn’t surprising given there’s a low pressure zone that’s passing to the south, as you can see in the snippet from the most recent surface analysis. (Ottawa is the red dot and Lake Huron is just north of the L.)

Hopefully, the pressure changes will settle down because feeling out of sorts and not being able to do anything about it sucks.