The Sticking Snow

Twenty years ago, we lived in Southwestern Ontario where we had been located for more than three decades. Sarnia was right on the Ontario-Michigan border, next to Port Huron and about one hour north of Detroit. That's how close we were.

Less than a year later we had relocated to Eastern Ontario, near Ottawa.

That winter, it snowed in time for the Santa Claus  Parade in November. Surprisingly, the snow stayed and stayed and stayed, probably until late March. In some years it has remained until April.

In Sarnia, the snow would come and the snow would go and come and go again. I never marked the coming and going because I don't think it was ever completely permanent for the whole winter. At least that it my best recollection. So winter here in Eastern Ontario was a bit of a change: a change that I have not minded, for I'd just as soon see white snow than brown grass.

The two places are only ~650km/400mi apart, but we are in different climate zones: not hugely different, but different never the less. Ottawa is also about 250km/160mi farther north in latitude, and that makes a difference. While Summer temperatures are fairly similar the January averages are quite different. At -10C/14F in January, Ottawa averages about 6C or 10F colder in January, and that is a fairly big heat difference over a whole month.

That, folks, is my long-winded (can writing have wind?) way of, eventually,  getting to a couple of photos. But first I need to beat around the bush some more by talking about sticking snow.

There is a date that changes year by year. Let's call it the sticking date. In our first year here, the snow came before the end of November and stuck until March-April. Some years, it comes and goes a little bit before it finally sticks, but there is always a day of no return, a day when has stuck for the rest of the winter. Occasionally, we have even had a green Christmas, but it has soon snowed and then stuck for almost three months shortly thereafter.

This year, the sticking day was December 01. Once the sticking day comes, the snow never quite leaves, no matter how warm or rainy it might get for a few days. 

After several days of temperatures above freezing and quite a bit of rain earlier this week, you'd think that we would have been down to grass, but this is what it still looked like from my den window. As you can see, it is still fairly thick on the lawn, despite the warmth and rain.

Of course, that is because, the blowers come around and shift snow from the driveways and pile it deep over the yards. Out back, the field on the other side of the road, where there was no snowblower accumulation, was pretty well bare. I will say that is is unusual to see it this clear after the sticking date, but it did happen this year.

Two days later, New Years Day, the field was covered again. I will be surprised if it loses its cover again for the next two months, but you never know with this climate change thing going on.

I must say that it was pretty nice to get a fresh covering of white for New Year Day. We went for a walk to the corner park where the snow had already been sticking, but it was now pretty and new. I got out my phone to snap this photo. It's fairly pretty scene, don't you think?