mississaugasnow

1 minute ago, Luke_Mages said:

Ha my mistake. 
 

haha all good. Canada overall is pretty jealous of you guys right now. (Big reversal from last summer) 

We have headlines like this here 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/canada-assured-vaccine-exports-from-eu-won-t-be-blocked-1.5363955

OTTAWA -- After concerns raised earlier this week, the federal government says it has received assurances from the European Union that Canada’s coming vaccine shipments will not be held back, despite the EU’s new export controls.

Both Procurement Minister Anita Anand and Export Promotion and International Trade Minister Mary Ng said Friday that they’ve received confirmation that the doses Canada is due, will be delivered.

According to a statement issued by Ng’s office, she spoke this week with the European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and was told the EU’s latest vaccine restrictions “are not meant to target Canada.”

9 minutes ago, Luke_Mages said:

You have a source? I’m pretty sure most of the vaccine being used by Americans is being produced domestically. I work for a company that makes equipment for food/beverage/pharma and there’s been a rush on equipment since August. 

 

 

 

 

?, Im Canadian. 

36 minutes ago, WNash said:

Yes, you’re correct, but the relevant measure, assuming there are equally efficient distribution systems, is % of population vaccinated. The Canadian government placed pre-orders tor seven different vaccines. That hedge didn’t allow them to overcome the leverage the US has by its market size and power over pharma companies. In retrospect, the only move that would have allowed Canada to keep up would have been to bet big on one vaccine, negotiating a guaranteed large early supply in exchange for a higher price and bigger order.

The risk, of course, would have been getting a less effective vaccine (or worse, paying for a failed vaccine candidate). That was a risky choice, and Canada is falling behind because of their safer bet.

EDIT: just wanted to add that difference in market size has negatively affected Canadian consumers for generations, ever since improving technology allowed for mass production of consumer goods.

Ya, one of the biggest issues is we also don't have domestic manufacturing for Pharmaceuticals. Almost all of our vaccines are currently being flown from the EU. The EU has started discussing that it wants to cut back on allowing orders to leave the EU. My guess is that they wont stop Canadas shipments (1.5M a week) until the US is vaccinated (May/June) and then they will stop flying to us because we can just get it from Michigan. 

Without going into too much politics on whats right or wrong, the last 5 years has finally shaken the Canadian public awake in the fact that we rely on US/Globalization for so much. When Trump started enacting trade policies against us we realized we might need to reinvest in our own domestic manufacturing, and now the fact that we couldnt make enough PPE or vaccines has upset the Canadian public. So Ottawa has decided to invest Billions in jumpstarting our Pharma industry by building new manufacturing centres across the country. They wont be able to help in 2021 but they are supposed to be ready by 2022. 

Edit* This is where you can see globalization has fallen apart in the last 5 years. Before hand big multinational corporations and countries like Canada thought just having a massive plant in Michigan 90 miles from the border would be enough. Its only 4 hour drive from Canadas largest city so why invest 1B in a new massive plant in the GTA. Add the Trump presidency, Covid and now Canada will invest in that new 1B manufacturing plant and that multi national corporation will operate two massive plants (Michigan, Ontario) when pre 2016 1 was all that was needed. 

4 hours ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I don't expect international travel to commence until at least 2022, and most likely summer of 2022. Just going through some travel forums, quite a few places in Europe just went back into lockdown, Auckland NZL did too. I don't expect travel into NZL until 2023. The canadian border isn't even open yet, and don't expect it to be for at least a few months. as Ontario just went into another month long lockdown. The vaccine rollout in America is the best in the world right now. We may not have universal healthcare, but man if we all work together we can get things done quick. 

when do you think the Canadian border reopens. Just got season tickets for the Bills and hoping the border is reopen by September and Bills allow 100% fans.

7 minutes ago, sferic said:

I'll take 1 inch and be happy, 2-3 very happy. No unrealistic expectations not expecting 6-12..ok, but wishing nevertheless

This time of the year im wanting nothing to do with this. Looks increasingly likely though I wake up to a dusting to 1" Thursday morning. Ill take that, see all the tweets saying hilarious April fools day Mother Nature played. March was horrific for snow in Toronto and Hamilton and will end up way way below normal. If we do somehow get 1" it will actually make April seem not that bad (in the record books) 

1 hour ago, Chicago Storm said:

Same out here in the suburbs. Many of the early flowers are up, and some trees/scrubs are budding.


.

Getting that here in the Western GTA. With heavy rain and temperatures in the 60s the next few days, I think by Sunday the grass looks a lot greener. The buds are getting bigger and first flowers up. Add some green grass and it will have a definite spring feel. 

18 hours ago, Kitchener poster said:

Do you know of a good snow cover map for Ontario? I’ve been looking for a snow cover and current snow depth map. 
 

 

 

I use NOHRSC interactive maps. They are decent with small hiccups but thats too be expected with anything like this. 

Im getting a bit concerned for Forest Fire season in Ontario. There is almost no snow cover in the province (the least since March 2012) Even if we go back into a colder wetter pattern there is no way to build up the snowpack back to winter levels. Normally it takes most of April for the snow cover to melt. 

3 hours ago, brentrich said:

Sure! Here you go. 

Not trying to troll you but you do realize that by late March most of the averages in NY and Ontario are well into 40s and 50s. And spring in NY and Ontario almost always have snow and some cold spells. I actually expect to wake up one morning in April and see 1" of sloppy snow covering flowers and green grass. It happens nearly every year.  

The fantasy GFS Buffaloweather posted is exactly what happens in late March and April. Buffalo and Cleveland could see 4-8" and be under a winter storm warning and be 31F and heavy snow. While Detroit and Toronto are 40F with sloppy rain and wet snow because the best forcing is south of them. 

I enjoy watching big spring snowstorms in the midwest and plains. Could be 50F and cloudy in the Dakotas, 32F and blizzard in Minneapolis and 75F and thunderstorms in Chicago. The maps show very clearly where the heaviest precipitation is because its coldest and just cold enough for a big time snowstorm. 

43 minutes ago, michsnowfreak said:

 Exactly. It depends what is meant by green.  The grass will green in April however green trees will probably be early may

ya, the very first flowers (snow drop flowers) will start appearing probably next week up here and shortly after a wide range of flowers and early shrubs. Im basing this off previous years and the fact that this has been a perfect lead up to next weeks 50-60s and sun. No snow melt, ground thawing, rain today ect.. 

Trees are generally Late April-Mothers day in the GTA, and unless we really have a warm early April (60s-70s non-stop) it probably will be around then.

2 hours ago, Angrysummons said:

The "British" variant is everywhere, its irrelevant. Michigan's numbers don't add up to the surrounding states which have flattened cases. Ohio, Penn, Indiana,Illinois, Wisconsin, even its lakes neighbor New York is seeing cases slowly dwindle down. Yet, Michigan's spike. Something is off.

Ontario is starting to spike and Buffalo is seeing numbers start to rise again. Though its comparing apples and oranges between the two countries. Ontarios 3rd wave is 1500+ cases a day. 

3 hours ago, CNY_WX said:

Opening day is in 2 weeks. Bring on the warmth!  Besides last Sunday it snowed very hard for 15 minutes and covered the ground. Then the sun came out and it all melted in 15 minutes. That’s why unless we can get a Denver type storm I’m done with snow. 

Thats why I hate March snow. 1-3" covers everything but by lunch its wet and muddy and all gone. 

In the December-February time frame I enjoy 1-3" mini events because you get a few of those and next thing you know you have a 6-10" base and it looks like deep winter. 

This time of the year its the big dog march snowstorms of 8-15" or spring for me. 

I thought that after mid march more of you guys would come around to the idea of wanting spring. I was wrong haha. You guys are still chasing the snow! 

Im watching the next few days in dixie as it looks like it could be pretty bad for tornadoes. 

1 hour ago, Stebo said:

My complaint is that it is boring as **** right now. No precip other than the trace last night for 15 days.

I like that because it should allow for a better chance of a warmer spring. The ground is drying out fast, a few brush fires around here already.

8 minutes ago, madwx said:

I think our pace of vaccinations will be just enough to beat back any future wave but as Europe is showing we’re just beating it

Ontario is in a race against it and most likely the wave comes before we can get the 65+ vaccinated. Now its how bad is the damage. Toronto hasn't had indoor restaurants/gyms/hair cuts since mid November. 

The rest of the province is mostly open though. Where I live its vastly different. I can watch March madness at a bar with 50 people inside

65F and last night never went below 53F so any remaining snow in the shade has been taken care of. 

The GTA is about to pass the point of no return for snowstorms. Toronto will unlikely see another 6" snowstorm this winter as they become very rare after March 15th, a general 3-6" snowstorm occasionally happens in 2nd half of March but by the last week of March Toronto rarely sees anything bigger than a 2-4" storm. 

Im putting out the spring furniture ect.. tomorrow and doing my spring clean. Its a bit early for most but my seasonal construction job starts in two weeks. All signs that winter is 99% over. 

7 hours ago, wolfie09 said:

6z gfs crushes us with a miller B..

Enjoy it for the next 20 minutes lol

Each year I get excited for spring and say I dont care about snowstorms in March. But if I could I would lock in this scenario haha. Damn I enjoy winter storms too much haha

April and May cold sucks but lets not pretend its winter type cold. Its 44F and rain in April (average high in the 50s for most) and May is 50s and rain (average high quickly getting into upper 60s and lower 70s) 

Toronto averages 2" of snow in April and in all my years living in the GTA only two April storms stick in my mind. April 2003 sleet storm and April 2018 Winter Storm. That 2018 storm was a rare event for me where I genuinely got excited haha. 3-4" of snow/sleet and hours of freezing rain causing an ice storm. Most April snow events are 33F and wet snow at night that accumulates 0.5" a few times throughout the month and its gone by 10am with clouds and 41F. Those events I couldnt care less about. 

5 hours ago, Chambana said:

Hadn’t looked at the drought monitor in months, and yikes! Not a good look. C’mon Hoosier we know the real reason you posted this you are itching for 1936 

Just checked out the snow cover and it looks like by late next week there will be no snow on the ground in most of the Midwest and Great Lakes. Even most of southern Ontario and parts of Northern Ontario will have little to no snow on the ground (aside from a few areas in Muskoka and around the shores of Lake Superior) 

Interesting that NWS is doing that while Environment Canada in the last year or two has just implemented Winter Weather Travel Advisories instead of the old Special Weather Statements. I find its helped with the general public (family and friends are my data haha) Before a special weather statement for a quick 2" of snow at rush hour didnt get anyones attention. Now a Winter weather travel advisory has them talking about a winter storm (equally annoying haha) but they at least now realize they need to prepare for winter conditions. 

Heres an example of EC 

2:16 PM EST Tuesday 02 March 2021
Weather advisory in effect for:

Timmins – Cochrane – Iroquois Falls
Winter Weather Travel Advisory in effect for this afternoon

A band of heavier snow is moving through the area this afternoon. Snowfall rates of 2-3 cm per hour are possible under this band. Travel will be impacted, especially along Highway 11 between Hearst and Kirkland Lake.

Motorists are advised to exercise caution, as visibility may be suddenly reduced in heavy snow.

The snow will taper off later this afternoon.

Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to [email protected] or tweet reports using #ONStorm.

36 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I'm not sure about Rochester but we just had a week of 40s-50s here in Buffalo. 

50s and 60s next week will be nice. Isnt the full retreat of winter but even if we sneak in another storm it will be pointless (for me) the ground will warm rapidly and even a 4-8" snowfall in March is normally gone within days. 

Looks like next week we start to see 50s and 60s in the GTA and WNY 

1 hour ago, beavis1729 said:

Ugh...the whiplash of winter to non-winter is so hard to take.  If it happens in late March, ok...but it shouldn't happen during DJF.  But every year, it does...it's just a matter of when.  It's like people are ok with 3 weeks of good winter, and then no more. 

Wish we could have gradual transitions and more consistent winter, instead of "all or nothing".

We got about 25" of snow in 3 weeks, with an average temp of around 10F...then the next 3 weeks will see 0" of snow with an average temp around 35F.  It's like a switch flips, even though it's still Feb.  Why can't there be a gradual transition...like maybe we get 10-15" instead of 25" in the next 3 weeks...and an average temp around 20F instead of 10F??

This is why our winter climo is so frustrating.  We have 3 weeks of good winter...but DJF is a 13-week period.  We work so hard to get wintry weather for a decent period...the lakes and ponds froze pretty well...then when winter finally sets in completely, it just vaporizes.  This doesn't happen in the summer.  In JJA, it's either "mostly summer" or "total summer" on any given day.  But in winter, it often ranges from "no winter" to "good winter"...and it just switches on a dime.  There is no room for error, or gadual transitions; any "above average temp" period melts snow and stops lakes from freezing, even during the heart of winter.  It just sucks.  So frustrated that there's no consistency.  We've lost nearly 18" of dense snow in 7 days...winter just disappeared.  I know it's late in the winter...but it's still Feb...and these episodes keep reinforcing our bad climo, which I can't bring myself to accept.  It's not really winter when the normal high in early Dec and late Feb is around 40F.

It's so emotionally draining.  It's always something.  It's like we have 6 weeks of "core winter"...but you can't even count on that, as evidenced by the 50s/60s that occurred in each of the past two Decembers, near Christmas...when daylight is the shortest. Before Dec 15th, the lake is too warm, and the source region hasn't cooled off enough.  Then, after Feb 1st, the source region is colder...but then you have to hope for clouds if the temp is > 25F so that snow doesn't melt, because the sun angle is getting higher.  And you need the nights to be clear, to get radiational cooling and preserve the snow...and have a lower start to the warm-up during the following day.  My point is that it shouldn't need to be this difficult.  If we actually had winter from Dec 1 - Jan 10, it would have been easier to take what has happened over the past week.  We basically had 5 weeks of winter this season...with the last 3 weeks being really good.  Because there have only been 5 weeks of winter, I want winter to continue into March, to make up for the lack of winter in December.  I value duration over intensity...13 weeks of each season, not 5.  Summer is good when the calendar says it, Fall is good when the calendar says it...but let's have seasons in seasons.  Temps above freezing in the daytime is not winter. 

Lol your average high at the end of February is 40F. I think you need to move a few hours north to get what you want. 

I'm the same as you though where I enjoy longevity of snow on the ground, ponds frozen, and general winter feel. Id take 3 winter storms that only drop 5-9" instead of one that drops 16-20". 

I think why Toronto, Detroit, Chicago snow weenies are so upset about winter a lot of the times is we are only 150-200 miles away from where winter sets up shop normally in late November and doesnt leave until mid March. Muskoka which is only 2 hour drive north of Toronto gets buried each winter and most times has feet of snow on the ground from December-March. 

No matter how much Toronto snow weenies wish, that type of winter that is right on our doorstep is never going to appear. 

2 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

My peak depth at home was 15". While up there we visited a friend's place in Cheboygan and it was beautiful because they had just had a fresh 5" snowfall but you could tell by the depth that before that new snow they had way less on the ground than we had had that week.  Everything's relative, but since we have months of snow off and on to play in at home, when I go up North I typically like to see the mind boggling depths. This year was just not happening, so hopefully if next year is a more normal northern Michigan Winter I will head to the Keweenaw. 

Thats crazy about Northern Michigan. On the other side of Lake Huron/Georgian Bay in Muskoka, Parry Sound, Algonquin there's 25-40" of snow on the ground. 

The snow is taking a beating but holding on still. About 3" here but its going to take all weekend to essentially destroy the rest of it.