I'm baffled by this sudden realization of the weather change in Ontario.
I spent years living in Southern Ontario, never much farther than a few blocks, or right on Lake Ontario. For the past couple of decades I have lived in Northern Ontario.
Perhaps I`ve always been more in-tune with the weather but I noticed over the years in the South that the weather had drastically changed. When I was young we had snow most of the winter and cold weather. Summers were hot but distinquished with stagnant air and very little wind. I remember those long, warm still summer days so well. By the time I left there virtually no longer any ice build up on the shores of the lake and it was an impossible mission to even consider building an outdoor skating rink. Believe I struggled for years at a local school for the kids and was fortunate to get a week of passable ice in February, if at all.
I moved to the North and now over another couple of decades we have gone from constant large amounts of snow, November to March freezeups with February a deep freeze for three straight weeks and always a last week January thaw to a free for all that may or may not have snow and seldom reaches below -24. That would have been sunbathing weather in February ten years ago.
Point is the weather has been warming perceptively for the past forty years. For some reason we have just seemed to open up the doors and stuck our heads out and wonder at what we see.
My concern is with the extremes we now see. I understand the parts in these articles about heavy rainfalls but the fact is it seems to me we are seeing a growing trend toward draught conditions and that`s a far worse concern in every aspect of our lives. The second concern is the amount of wind, wind has become a daily and almost constant part of dialy and in most part nightly weather. Try and think of the last time there was a day without wind. There hasn`t been one here for the past three years. I only know because I track the wind and find it a concern that no one seems to notice has drastically changed over the years.
Rogue,
The same goes for BC. There has been huge changes in the weather. Snow and cold temp. just don't happen the way they did back then. Its what wiped out the pine forests, and I see it happening here in Ontario even though I have only been here about 5 years. Ask around about the maple trees; maple sugar is going the way of the dodo bird as well. I don't think it far fetched to think the next war will be over water.
I find it boggling that the water tables are low, there has been very little rain, and they only want you to cut water usage back 10%. Let those golf courses go, already. Wear those clothes an extra day or two or three. Lets not wait and see if things get worse before we do something about it.
We see the writing on the wall and are changing the way we do things. I don't care if it rains a boatload next year. We are setting our new standards to cutting our water needs and getting more bang out of the water we do use.
It`s my hope that most realize, for all the alarms going off right now, that this condition of changing weather is not something to necessarily fear, but it certainly is a condition we need to acknowledge and respect while we understand it`s long term implications and manage them to the best benefits of our own families and communities.
I really can`t remember the last time I saw someone watering their lawns and with the current dry conditions most are losing them rather than resort to turning on the tap and paying the price.
If for no other reasons than rising costs, water conservation is a way of our life styles today. One we will all need to concern ourselves with in the future. We are fortunate here in most parts of Canada but I certainly have huge concerns for other nations. Typically, it`s the age-old nations that have bourne the brunt of challenging lives and conditions of poverty that will suffer the most in the future. Conflict will certainly come when we in our communities have to make the choices of contributing to others in need, whether on a national or international level. One thing for certain; water will be the headline makers of the future as will drought for the next decade.
You make some very good points Rogue and I think here that most would agree with you. As someone who has tracked weather patterns in Northern Ontario for 30 years I can tell you that:
Winters are two months shorter than 20 years ago.
Low temperatures in the winter are up by 10 degrees.
There is less precipitation (summer and winter).
Most of the precipitation occurs in short violent bursts.
Summers are much more humid.
It is now windy most of the time.
I noticed that you mentioned the wind too, interesting. So overall it has become warmer, drier, windy, more humid and with more storms. Most of this can be attributed to the changes in the jet stream patterns. Why they have changed may not be quite clear. Where it is going is anyone's guess, the trends could just as easily go the other way in the next few years. I guess we will have to wait and see.
As I have said already, that climate change has already started. Not my words, I got this out of a popular science magazine, over 6 years ago. 😕
Thanks Ranger I new I had seen a reference to that somewhere in a post. I wanted to track down the source and check it out. I don't suppose that you can remember approximately what year that was? Thanks anyway.