Sunday Wrap-up: March 27 2016 Pt 1: Southern Ontario Ice Storm

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter. I hope that you all are having a wonderful weekend.

This is part 1 of my Sunday Wrap-up where I will talk about the recent ice storm that hit my area. In part 2 I will update my reading progress. 

If you read my wrap-up for March 13-20 you may remember me mentioning that I was longing to go away for a night. Well it happened friday. Only it wasn't exactly the get-away I had hoped for..

This past week we kept hearing of a winter storm that was heading our way. A lot of people didn't think it would hit us very hard (if at all) and others had even taken their snow tires off with the start of "spring". Well it hit us. Very hard. Thursday evening it started to snow.. then it turned into freezing rain. It wasn't long before the power outages began all over southern Ontario.

So that night we had cold cereal for dinner and just read our books by lantern light.

I am so thankful for our LED battery operated lanterns! You can adjust the brightness, they are safe and lightweight. We've even brought these camping with us. We used some candles too, but for the most part these gave us the light we needed.

Friday morning we woke up still without power and the bad weather continued. By this time everything was a sheet of ice. The trees were so coated with ice that they began to snap, bringing down large trunks and branches onto power lines, which created fires and even more dangerous conditions. 

Here is a video I found on Youtube that shows all the ice on the trees:

It looks kind of pretty, but scary at the same time. All we could hear throughout the night was the snapping of branches from the trees all around us. By morning it was starting to get pretty cold inside due to the lack of heat and because our stove/oven is electric as well we couldn't even cook anything.

Image from The Weather Network (Susan Casey)

So we packed up and headed to my parents house where we were very thankful for a woodstove and a gas range. It wasn't until late friday night that power was restored to the area where my parents live. Unfortunately it took a lot longer for other areas to get theirs back. Some may be in the cold and dark until monday!

Here is another video which was posted on the Weather Network that shows some damage and the electrical explosions that were seen throughout the night:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/videos/Gallery/caught-on-camera-stormchaser-experiences-an-electrical-explosion/sharevideo/4818413881001


While we were very fortunate to have a warm meal and a cozy fire, there were many others in my area and all over the region who were not so lucky. A lot of damage has been done as a result of this storm. I would like to take a moment to think of the first responders: the firefighters, paramedics and the OPP, as well as all the hydro crews. Many of which have been working non-stop to make sure that residents are safe.

So like I said it wasn't exactly the get-away I hoped for, but we made the most of the situation. Sometimes it is nice to be unplugged. We both got a lot of reading done, played some Jenga and just enjoyed some quality time together in front of a warm fire.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my sunday wrap-up.