Picture of the Day: Spring is Here

Pastel pink cherry blossoms are out

Spring allergies didn't really hit me until today. After days of rain in Vancouver, which is now called "an atmospheric river", we were surprised to see the sun and blue skies!

When that happens you have to go out for a walk, and today was particularly significant as it's the first day of Spring.

Magnolias have begun to bloom

I saw magnolias blooming as well as cherry blossoms.

But after my walk I started having sneezing fits and my eyes watered.

Ten hours later my eyes are still itchy, my nose can't stop dripping.

When I was in Hong Kong I never had this problem!

Nevertheless, still thrilled to see that winter is behind us, even though we had no recorded snow this year. The last time that happened was 43 years ago! 

Picture of the Day: Perilous Walks on Ice

The walking path inside the forest is slippery!

Vancouver has been very chilly, with sub-zero temperatures overnight and into the early morning. Since the heavy snow over a week ago, side roads are still covered in packed snow and ice, and only today has the white stuff finally partially melted on street in front of our house to reveal patches of asphalt.

While most of the sidewalks are cleared, it's walking in Pacific Spirit Park that's become treacherous. After it had snowed, the paths were fine to walk on with some grip on your boot soles, but after the snow melting and then freezing several days in a row, the routes are very slippery -- and that's when it's flat.

That was my experience yesterday when I attempted to walk into the park and made a quick exit to get back onto stable cement. 

The other day a neighbour near the entrance of the park saw an ambulance and fire truck parked there. The paramedics and firemen had come to extricate a young woman who had fallen less than 1km into the park on a slope. It is unclear if she was trying to go up the hill or down.

Nevertheless, these rescuers had to make sure they themselves didn't fall, get the woman onto the stretcher and then carry her back (without slipping) to the ambulance.

Today the yellow metal bar at the entrance of the park is open, but today it was closed, though that didn't stop others from entering at their own risk.

Rain is expected on Saturday and temperatures finally rising above 2 degrees to 5 degrees! Maybe it will finally wash away all the snow and ice for good. It was nice when it first came down, but we're all over it already!

Snow Day

Snow outlining bare trees this morning

This morning we woke up to... snow! The first snowfall this winter... and on Groundhog Day no less.

The snow was coming down fast and accumulating 20cm by the time we suited ourselves up to shovel the white stuff from our sidewalks and walkways. 

Children sledding down the hill in a park

My favourite snow period is when there is fresh virgin snow in the ground and it hasn't been touched by anyone and it's so tranquil. 

After lunch I took a stroll outside and was thrilled to see blue skies, and snow was falling off trees and bushes so the landscape wasn't so... white.

Some sidewalks were cleared, and others were not. From far away I could see lots of people and heard shouts and screams, having fun at Camosun Park, and came closer to take a look.

Parents stood around while their kids used sleds and plastic toboggans to slide down the hill. They sounded exhilarated as they slid down in mere seconds, and didn't mind having to hike back up just to slid down again minutes later.

It reminded me of when we were kids and went to the nearest hill with a plastic bag to slide on -- no need for a fancy sled. 

On the way home I noticed a perfectly formed duck made from snow that was on the ground. I had seen this in a video from China, where you can purchase plastic yellow tongs in the shape of a duck and make... snow duckies.

A snow duck on the sidewalk

I spied another one, so it wasn't a fluke, and then saw an Asian girl with the aforementioned tongs with her boyfriend as she made the snow ducks as they walked and placed them on a pylon or on the sidewalk.

Mystery solved.

There was some snowfall later in the afternoon which covered up our shovelling efforts; we will be back at it again tomorrow...

Traversing the Endicott Arm

Lots of tiny icebergs floating in the Endicott Arm

This morning we woke up to the ship moving at a slow pace because it was in the Endicott Arm, a narrow fjord, about 85km southeast of Juneau, Alaska. The scenery constantly changes, with some areas showing lots of trees, others a deep crevasse that reveals a waterfall from the melting snow above.

The mountains have been eroded by glaciers

After breakfast we wandered to the front of the ship on deck 15 and there were many people standing there taking in the sights. It was so warm outside, around 16 degrees and sunglasses were a must. Floating in the aquamarine-coloured water were small icebergs and if we were lucky we saw some seals sunbathing!

However, as the ship approached they quickly slipped under the water. This happened a few times along the way. No one seemed to spot any wildlife, like black or brown bears, deer, or mountain goats. The Endicott Arm is still part of the Tongass National Forest, one of the largest protected areas in the United States.

The Dawes Glacier in the distance

Then at a certain point, the ship began to slowly turn around, and that's when we saw the Dawes Glacier. However we didn't get close to the glacier, nor could we see any chunks of ice falling into the water, which is called glacier calving. 

When we finished lunch, I had a good walk around the deck and once in a while we could see whales in the distance -- far far distance! They did not jump up, but rather came up for air and went back down again. Nevertheless it was still really cool to see them, if only just a bit of them!

Yesterday I managed to see a very cute five-week old puppy that will grow up to train for Iditarod racing. Two puppies were brought on board the cruise ship to meet some passengers. This female puppy looked very shy, and is a mix of husky, border collie, setter and hound. While huskies are best known, mutts can also run fast too! 

A cute future Iditarod racer

Apparently when full size and racing, these dogs can consume as much as 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day!

Watery Weather Woes

The continuous downpour in Vancouver has been depressing

Since the massive snowfall ended last week, Vancouver has been soaking wet. It was great to have the rain help melt the snow away quickly, but now the endless rain is pretty depressing.

And this weekend Environment Canada has warned that heavy rainfall could cause flooding in parts of Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and Metro Vancouver.

The heaviest rainfall is expected between Sunday night and Monday.

Lots of snow paralysed parts of the city

Not only that, but warmer temperatures mean freezing levels will be higher. What would freeze at 2,000 metres, will now freeze at between 2,500 to 3,000 metres.

That means rain and now snow on local mountains. It was so bad that Mount Seymour had to close today (Saturday) because of weather, while on Grouse Mountain, lessons after 1pm were cancelled. Cypress Mountain was the only one fully open.

This year's ski season has been a washout. Literally.

On a bright note, yesterday I managed to get a walk in the forest without a drop of precipitation. However, about two hours later as forecasted, it began to rain and it has not let up since.

What a January! Freezing temperatures, massive snowfall and now a deluge of rain...

Picture of the Day: Ice Sculpture

A sculptural orphaned piece of ice left over from snowstorm

Hard to believe the massive snowstorm was a week ago. It's been raining pretty much continuously since last Friday and the vast majority of snow is gone save for a few bits here and there.

This one I spotted seems like a sculpture a la Henry Moore, or Georgia O'Keefe with her studies of bones...

Snow Day in Vancouver

Trees covered in snow made for a beautiful sight today

We were warned ahead of time there would be a big snowstorm starting at midnight on Wednesday and the weather forecast was correct. Late in the evening Vancouver started to get a dusting of snow that continued for hours and hours... 

This morning we woke up to the white stuff -- a lot of it. 

Vancouver got a record 28cm today

Schools, including post-secondary ones closed for the day, much to the thrill of students. Today was the start of Dine Out Vancouver, where restaurants offer set meals at discounted prices. But the terrible road conditions caused some restaurants to close for the day, while some shops and museums closed early.

Around 9am I went out to start shovelling the snow off the sidewalks around our house and there was over 20cm accumulated already. It was tough going because the snow was already so thick and still coming down fast. 

Today we got a total of 28cm, a record for January 17, smashing the 1962 record of 13.5cm!

After I managed to clear both sidewalks and walkways to our home, I was dismayed to find there was already a light layer of snow covering the area I had just shovelled earlier.

So about an hour later I went out again, and after lunch, and one more time in the late afternoon with the shovel. By that time it was much easier to clear the walkways, but it had to be done to prevent it from accumulating too much.

By late afternoon the snow stopped falling for a bit and I tried to go out for a walk. Some neighbours did shovel the snow, doing an even better job than me, while others completely neglected this chore and it was difficult to walk at times. 

A smiling Henry Moore-like snow sculpture

Nearby is a park and it was nice to see young children having fun tobogganing down the slope, or making snowmen. One of them looked like a Henry Moore statue. It was quite a sight to see snow on the tree branches creating a beautiful scene.

The park is next to a main road and it was mostly cleared of snow, though the dirt from the cars had already turned the snow on the street into an ugly brown slush.

And tomorrow's weather will not be pretty -- tonight the temperature drops below zero, causing everything to freeze into ice, and then in the early evening on Thursday there will be freezing rain at 1 degree Celsius.

Already some post-secondary schools have cancelled classes again tomorrow. Better safe than sorry.

Vancouver's Unusual Deep Freeze

Patches of ice in this running stream in the forest

Since Thursday, Metro Vancouver has been in a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero not only overnight, but during the day as well.

The snow on the roads disappeared somehow, resulting in the city experiencing a dry cold winter. It was so cold that people were skating on some local ponds.

To walk outside, one has to seriously bundle up with a toque, scarf, puffy jacket, long johns, sweater, socks and boots. Oh yes and gloves too. Anyone wearing less than that would be considered mad, like the guy I saw this afternoon wearing shorts.

In the early afternoon there was a weather alert to say the arctic outflow warning had ended, and that warmer temperatures were coming. 

That means tomorrow's temperature will be a high of -2 degrees Celsius during the day, and -6 degrees at night.

Whoohoo!

On Tuesday things get interesting with the possibility of snow in the afternoon or evening until Wednesday morning and then it will warm up to 6 degrees!

And then rest of the week will be raining... back to regular Vancouver weather...

Picture of the Day: Cold-temperature Walk

This morning was a lovely but very cold day!

Yesterday was a beautiful winter day in Vancouver, blue skies and radiant sunshine that so many were in disbelief when it started to snow around 2pm.

I was watching the four-hour documentary I reviewed in the previous post so when we emerged from the theatre at 5pm, it was dark and there was snow on the ground.

Even though there was only 2cm of snow on the ground, it was somewhat perilous driving home. My relative and I went south on Granville Street and turned right onto 12th Avenue going west. Not long afterwards our car began to slide which left us unsettled and drove in silence. And the car in front of us had just bumped into the one in front of it.

To avoid further traffic woes, my relative dropped me off and I walked a short distance back home. 

An invigorating walk in the forest

It was already dinnertime when I got back so we ate and after washing up, I put on some warm clothes and headed outside to shovel the sidewalk. But the snow had already stuck to the concrete so I tried to remove as much as I could and threw salt on it in the hopes it would melt somewhat.

Overnight it was -12 degrees Celsius.

This morning was a beautifully sunny day, but highs of -8 degrees!

After breakfast I bundled up again wearing long johns and fleece-lined waterproof trousers along with sweater, scarf, puffy jacket, hat and gloves, and headed out for a walk. The roads were very quiet with students at school and some people opted to stay home to work. I headed to Pacific Spirit Park and enjoyed hearing the crunch of the snow under my boots. 

I did a 52-minute walk and my face was very cold. I stopped around half way to take sips of hot water from my thermos and it warmed my face and throat up right away. My only complaint was that I wished I had worn mittens, but after a while my hands warmed up nicely. I saw a Chinese couple not wearing gloves and wondered why they didn't wear any. The woman was rubbing her hands constantly...

When I got back home my cheeks were ruddy red! Next time wearing a mask would keep my face warmer!

Tonight it's -14 degrees, and tomorrow's high is -6 degrees! It won't be 1 degree until Tuesday!

Cold is Relative

Hongkongers are experiencing cold weather today

Hong Kong logged its coldest temperature this winter at a chilly 9.8 degrees Celsius today and people on social media were complaining about the cold, and having to bundle up.

Tai Mo Shan, the city's tallest mountain at 957 metres, logged 0.3 degrees -- might as well say it was zero. Back in January 2016, temperatures plunged to be low zero on the peak, and if you remember, people got stuck up there, unfamiliar with the icy conditions and firefighters had to go and rescue them. Why did people go up there? To see frost...

Cypress Mountain barely has enough snow

Meanwhile, across the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver is experiencing its third-warmest winter on record at 9 degrees. We are definitely not going to have a white Christmas compared to last year when we were inundated with snow starting in late November.

It was so bad for skiers yesterday that Mount Seymour closed early yesterday afternoon because of the lack of snow, and Cypress and Grouse each only have one downhill run open... 

Vancouver Snow Chaos Continues

A snarled mess of cars in downtown Vancouver 

Today was another snow day... overnight Vancouver received some 10 cm of fresh snow and I spent a good hour or so shovelling again. This time it was harder as freezing rain was coming down so the snow was heavier to shovel. 

The freezing rain lifted when I almost finished the shovelling (figures) and just to be safe I went back to salt the sidewalks and our walkway. I also managed to locate the city water drains underneath the snow and clear them.

Port Mann Bridge was shut down most of the day

That's because this afternoon temperatures were going from minus 3 degrees to plus 1 degree and rain.

Despite the rising temperatures, everyone was advised not to go out as the roads were extra slick -- and judging from the traffic reports I heard in the morning and afternoon, there were a lot of cars spun out, got into accidents -- or even lost their wheels.

The weather situation was so bad that even the Port Mann and Alex Fraser bridges were shut down from later morning onwards. Skytrain was struggling and so were the buses and ferries. 

Shop owners are fretting with yet another shopping day lost before Christmas. Tomorrow will be a mad rush if anyone has left their gift-buying to the last minute. Some news reports say business owners are already looking towards Boxing Day to make up for pre-Christmas sales. 

And there are still people stranded at Vancouver International Airport, but finally YVR has stepped up and offered hotel rooms to passengers who have been stuck there for days, with priority for the elderly, and with young children. They are also trying to sort out Christmas meals for people who are still here on Sunday.

Late yesterday WestJet proactively cancelled all its flights at YVR and Toronto Pearson and Air Canada cancelled most of its flights too, which gave YVR an opportunity to clear its backlog and allow international flights to land. 

After almost three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, people were hoping to meet up with friends and loved ones, and now a nasty winter storm has prevented many from meeting up. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day -- with temperatures shooting up to 7 degrees! And more rain...

Snowmageddon in Vancouver

Many side streets looked like this this morning

The story today in Vancouver was snow, snow, snow and how it affected people, bad and good.

An unusually cold front overnight led to precipitation becoming snow which started coming down from around 8pm until late morning, leading to an accumulation of about 30cm, or about a foot of snow. We already had a small dump on Sunday, but this was unprecedented.

From 5am onwards I was glued to listening to the radio, hearing the traffic reports telling people not to go out unless they really had to, as the driving was treacherous and public transit was spotty. 

Many planes were grounded at YVR

Unfortunately there was complete chaos at Vancouver International Airport where flights were seriously delayed or cancelled. One man called into CBC Radio and explained he had a flight to Toronto at 5pm yesterday, but they didn't get on the plane until three hours later, but that they had been sitting on the tarmac ever since -- over 10 hours later.

This was not the only story. Another woman told the evening news that they had gotten on and off the plane several times and waited six hours. Other passengers were luckily allowed to finally get off, but then had to make their way home, their planned trip to Hawaii seeming further away than ever.

Apparently passengers were trying very hard to keep their patience, but sitting on a plane for hours with just two small cups of water and some cookies is very trying, even though the weather is beyond the control of the airline... 

It's not clear if there wasn't enough ground staff to open gates for people to get off the planes, or that the airlines were still trying to fly out. Regardless there were a lot of tired, hungry, frustrated and disappointed people at YVR.

Tired travellers rested wherever they could

The rest of us dug ourselves out of the snow. My mom thought her dental appointment was still on, so I walked her to the bus stop around 8.45am. Many of the house occupants hadn't cleared their sidewalks yet -- us included -- so we stepped in a lot of fresh snow and paths that had been trodden on but not enough to give us even footing. 

Luckily we didn't have to wait long for the bus and I saw my mom off and then walked back and had breakfast before starting the task of shovelling. Soon after I started she returned -- the dental office was closed! She was quite irate, but it was only later she found out her dentist had texted her at 7am, but she didn't see the message... her dentist profusely apologised.

Shovelling snow was a task that had to be done slow and steady. It helped to shovel small amounts of the white stuff than try to ambitiously cover more ground so that I didn't tire so easily. It was so quiet outside the birds were having a fun time (or freezing time?!) flying around chasing each other in the cold weather and chirping away. Dogs were having a ball playing in the snow. 

The snowfall inspired a lot of picture-taking

My favourite video on Twitter is of a guy whipping off his long black coat to reveal himself in a Speedo and googles in a backyard in Port Moody that is covered in snow. He steps up and pretends to dive into a pool, but it's actually a foot of fresh powder and he starts "swimming" freestyle for a few seconds. 

Hope he warmed up with a hot shower after!

Unfortunately the temperature is at minus 7 degrees Celsius so the snow will turn to ice tomorrow...