Doug's home in Orillia, about 80 miles north of Toronto, is in a snow belt so snow is expected, but Doug said, since moving there in 1969, he's never seen snow accumulations like this during the holidays. I walked out to get the mail December 31st and couldn't pass up a photo. Snowplows came daily for nearly a week.
On the back deck overlooking Lake Couchiching, snow drifts were 2-3' at the patio doors in the dining room.
Snow squalls frequently restricted the view of Lake Couchiching from the third floor studio.
Ice storms throughout Ontario during the holidays caused power outages and at one point nearly 400,000 customers in Toronto and its suburbs were without power. Doug had no power for nearly 6 hours the morning of December 24th; Orillia residents were fortunate, though, to have it restored so quickly.
The Polar Vortex phenomenon was reality for many parts of the U.S. and Canada over the holidays and made air travel for the start of 2014 a challenge. I was one of the lucky travelers January 4th as my Delta flight from Toronto's Pearson Airport to Atlanta and final destination Pensacola, Florida experienced a tolerable 2-hour delay.
Although visitors to the Alabama Gulf Coast aren't used to wearing winter coats, even in January, it's still sunny and we don't have to face icy sidewalks or treacherous black ice on snowpacked highways.
(blog entries by Heidi Hutson)
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