Weather 2012

[RickR]

No ice castle this year.  No snow sculpting either.  Ice sculpting still going on, I think.  Everything is quite low key, this warm practically snowless season.  Festivities still endure, though. 

I'd like to see more attention to making the cities pleasant to live and  get around in in winter (earlier comments about shading etc)..

Funny you should mention that, Cohan.  Minneapolis  supposedly has the longest skyway system in the world (over seven miles).  Just last week there was an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune quoting the mayor saying something to the effect that the skyways are taking away from the city street life (duh!) and businesses that benefit from it (street life), and wonders about the overall value of the skyway .  I have to say, our skyway system is not at all easy to navigate.  It's almost never simple and straight forward: making turns and corners in the buildings, down long hallways, going through this or that unmarked door.  It's always been an acute test of my memory how to get back to where I started.

[cohan]

Edmonton had supposedly won some awards for its 'Pedway' system when I lived there long ago- the system- both above and below ground- was useful, but really didn't go all that far in those days, not that there was anywhere far to go.... definitely those central shopping areas had rather 'dead' exteriors...
The system connecting dowtown buildings in Toronto was also quite labyrinthine- but apart from a couple of the largest downtown shopping centres which were well connected ( I could easily travel several blocks indoors and regularly did; at one time I also worked beside another connected area, and that was very handy too!) it was outside my needs-- I just occasionally wandered in there for the sheer exoticism of seeing where the corporate/banking world ate lunch and did light shopping ( a hidden world!) - so I had no need to find my way back anywhere, as long as I could eventually find a street exit again 

I think city planners do need to think long and hard about who they are serving with various systems, and what other effects they may have... for people who work (or live, if there are connected residences?) in the interconnected buildings (or even near them!) I think its wonderful in very cold or hot weather- to be able to access goods and services without dealing with weather, and I'm sure any call to remove the connections would be vociferously opposed!

[Tim Ingram]

I suppose because we don't get a long extended winter with snow (except once in a blue moon), we don't have winter festivals - sounds like good fun! Keen gardeners make up for it by collecting snowdrops and visiting as many gardens as they can in a few weeks through February!!

Trond - the Chusan Palm has been in the garden for some 25 years or more and never been damaged by winter cold or snow, but we rarely drop below -10°C. In Nature I think it can tolerate temperatures down to -20°C maybe for short periods, but it is always long extended freezing which causes so much damage. I also grow the European Chamaerops but this was quite badly damaged by the early cold we had last winter; Butia capitata from temperate South America has so far (touch wood) come through relatively unscathed - this can make a very bold and dramatic specimen. I imagine the Chusan palm would be hardy in milder parts of Scandinavia?

[Hoy]

It isn't much of neither skyways nor pedways here! I think they are rare even in the big cities like Oslo. However, when I visited Moscow I walked in something like that - interconnecting buildings with streets roofed over and both inside and "outside" gangways in several floors - just opposite Kremlin across the Red Square.

      



Tim, I have tried several palms from seed but all the seedlings died in the very cold winter 2 years ago. However, I know there are some people growing palms outside here at the west coast. I have a Chusan Palm in a pot and will try it outside in a year or two. I also have a banana plant (Musa basjoo) in pot and plan to try also that one outside. However, the problem her would be lack of warmth in summer and not cold in winter.

I have several times bought seeds (not just palms) from http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/index2.shtml and always had good germination

[Tim Ingram]

Trond - that is a tremendous website and seed source; very dangerous for me because I can't resist growing so many plants from seed! Interestingly last winter a couple of established cycads I had in pots (Cycas revoluta and a Macrozamia) looked to be killed in the unheated greenhouse, but come spring threw out a strong new set of leaves! I am not sure if many palms damaged in this way would do the same. Not to be recommended though when the plants have taken ten or more years to grow on from seed!

[cohan]

Trond- much grander than any walkways I've been  on in Edmonton or Toronto  a few 'glassed' ones over streets, but more often underground connections which are just like subway connection tunnels- or even much smaller than that... at the grandest, they are just like any other part of a shopping mall...

[cohan]

Well, I guess spring is really coming- but my indicator is not flowers pushing up out of the soil-- rather, the snow is wetter and heavier now!
Our forecast yesterday was for flurries, but we got another 10-15cm...
First is from a couple of metres past the front door...



My friend shovelling ( we did parts of it in the evening, all of it later, and again today)



Philadelphus, apples, house lights (left) and van..



Part of the driveway, and another part..

 

[Lori S.]

Looks like you... and we... have more snow to look forward to!  A "heavy snowfall warning" is forecast for Calgary and also for the Rocky Mt. House area (and possibly for other areas), but as you say, at least it might be "spring" (i.e. wet) snow!  

[cohan]

Lori, seeing your comment in the other thread made me check that forecast-- I'd also put 'heavy snowfall' in brackets- so far for Rocky it says 2-4cm tonight, 5-10cm tomorrow and 2 cm tomorrow night (and flurries tues and wed) so max 16cm so far-- not that heavy- though more than I'd prefer when it will mean a couple more hours of shovelling on work days  Red Deer shows a bit less, and we are between, so we'll see....

[Hoy]

No snow in the forecast here and no freezing either Although I like the snow when it is winter at least at our cabin, I dislike snow and cold nights when the spring has arrived!

[cohan]

No snow in the forecast here and no freezing either Although I like the snow when it is winter at least at our cabin, I dislike snow and cold nights when the spring has arrived!

We have a strong likelihood of snow even in May, and the last couple of years, the last snowbanks in shade last through most of May, so to start being bothered by it so early would be a great waste of energy...lol
We've had another 15cm or so since last night, and still coming...

[cohan]

Still snowing.... we managed to travel around 120 km (to town, east, then home, then to work, west, and back; pics to come, but not tonight) today in spite of snowy roads (highways not too bad, but our gravel road is very deep.. unless the plow passes in the morning, doubt we will go to work tomorrow! (okay, today, technically...) More snow than forecast originally- which was max of 16cm over the two days? I think it must be more like 30, maybe more, on top of the snow from Sat- we may have had over 40/45 cm by now.. still not as much as some folks see, but finally worthy of those snowfall warnings (still in effect) 

Snow piles in the yard are at least as high as last year's extremes- a few must be up to around 6 feet, many 3-4 ft and a couple of metres wide, and looks like we may have piles of snow in the shade melting well into May again... we shovelled several times yesterday and several times again today, and will have to again tomorrow...

[Hoy]

You get some exercise then, Cohan!
I swept the yard yesterday and remowed the sand from last winters "glaciation". (Do you call the sand you use to make ice and snow less slippery anything particular?)

[cohan]

Too much exercise  -- shovelling 2 or 3 times  a day for 4 days..lol  today we had to shovel my mother's roof also...
hopefully no more snow for a while.. still some paths to be done etc.. I always remember Jane's snow in Colorado- nothing like that, but our paths are starting to feel like tunnels, and our highest piles near the parking spot are near 7 feet/a couple metres high..
After today with a high of -6C and windy, the rest of the week is above freezing, with a couple days of 10C-- some things will be getting wet, though  where its pure snow it will not melt so fast...

[Hoy]

When I was younger I actually liked shovelling snow
Nowadays I'm glad for every day without snow - except when it gets too frigid for my dear plants. Today it is 10 days since last frosty night, and we've had only 5 cold (-3.5C as the coldest) nights the last month. I shouldn't speak too loud about it however, lest I'll get a lesson But the forecast says  +3 - +7C the next 10 days and some sun