I love The Weather Network:
Winter storm watch for: City of Ottawa
Issued at 10:00 AM EST FRIDAY 7 MARCH 2008
..WINTER STORM EXPECTED TO GIVE HEAVY SNOW SATURDAY.. THIS IS AN ALERT TO THE POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF DANGEROUS WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.
A STORM IS CURRENTLY OVER ALABAMA AND WILL PUSH NORTHWARD TODAY GIVING SIGNIFICANT SNOW TO MOST OF SOUTHERN ONTARIO. IT APPEARS THAT THE SNOW WILL COME IN TWO DOSES. THE FIRST ROUND WILL BEGIN AS EARLY AS THIS AFTERNOON FOR SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO AND NIAGARA THEN LATER TODAY IN EASTERN ONTARIO. WE MAY HAVE A BRIEF REPRIEVE OVERNIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING WHERE SNOW MAY BECOME LIGHT AND MORE INTERMITTENT. THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL IS THEN EXPECTED IN THE SECOND ROUND BEGINNING MIDDAY SATURDAY IN THE SOUTHWEST AND IN THE AFTERNOON OVER EASTERN ONTARIO. KEEP IN MIND THAT THE SNOWFALL DURATION WILL BE ABOUT 36 HOURS BUT THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL BE SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SNOWFALL WARNINGS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FROM LONG POINT TO THE NIAGARA PENINSULA DUE TO SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 15 TO 20 CENTIMETRES WITH THE FIRST DOSE. THESE AREAS WILL LIKELY BE UPGRADED TO A WINTER STORM WARNING DUE TO ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL AND BLOWING SNOW AS THE SECOND ROUND APPROACHES. STORM TOTALS MAY BE 20 TO 30 CENTIMETRES ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM LONG POINT TO THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE THEN TO PETAWAWA. THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR 30 TO 50 CENTIMETRES OF SNOW OVER THE NIAGARA PENINSULA AND PARTS OF EASTERN ONTARIO. AREAS WEST OF THE LONG POINT TO PETAWAWA LINE SHOULD SEE BETWEEN 10 TO 20 CENTIMETRES WITH LESSER AMOUNTS NEAR LAKE HURON AND GEORGIAN BAY. BEHIND THIS SYSTEM STRONG NORTHERLY WINDS TO 70 KM/H ARE POSSIBLE. ON SATURDAY STRONG WINDS COMBINED WITH FRESH SNOW WILL CAUSE BLOWING SNOW TO LOWER VISIBILITIES AND CREATE DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. WHITEOUT CONDITIONS FROM HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ARE POSSIBLE SO TRAVELLERS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO CHANGE THEIR PLANS ACCORDINGLY. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS WILL DEPEND ON THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM AND THE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE AVAILABLE TO CONVERT TO SNOW. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE EXACT TRACK OF THIS STORM. ENVIRONMENT CANADA WILL CLOSELY MONITOR THIS SITUATION AND ISSUE SNOWFALL OR WINTER STORM WARNINGS AS REQUIRED WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. WINTER STORM WARNINGS ARE ISSUED WHEN SNOWFALL OF 25 CENTIMETRES IS EXPECTED IN 24 HOURS OR LESS..OR WHEN SNOWFALL COMBINED WITH BLOWING SNOW CREATES SIGNIFICANT AND POSSIBLY DANGEROUS WEATHER RELATED HAZARDS.
PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST PUBLIC FORECASTS FOR FURTHER DETAILS.
I suspect, in fact, that the groundhog never even made it out of his hole this past Groundhog Day - and March looks more and more like a lion, than any lamb! Though of course, any comparison to Hell is somewhat misguided, no? (It's warm in Hell, from what I hear.)
Anyway, I suspect this crazy weather is just a ploy to amuse my father, who, as I'm sure most of you know by now, is weather-obsessed. The Weather Gods are just trying to greet him in style, as he returns sometime this weekend from an idyllic, sunshine-filled two-week vacation in the Caribbean with my mother.
Welcome home, folks! Hope you enjoy being holed up in Detroit!*
* I shouldn't even joke about being stuck in the Detroit airport. We almost had to spend the night in Detroit two years ago, whilst en route to Japan, when our connecting flight out of Ottawa was delayed. Thankfully, they held the plane for us in Detroit. Close call.
