Monday, January 25, 2010

Record January rainfall


A warm front moved in last night, bringing freezing rain with it. It was +6C this morning and the freezing rain was just plain rain. This photo was taken around 11am when the rain was quite heavy - not sure if you can tell in this photo. Needless to say, I expected the rain to melt a lot of the snow.

The rain finally stopped around 3pm, and I took this photo around 5pm. It was still +6C at that point, and you can see the effect of the rain and the warm temperatures on the snow. Virtually all of the snow and ice on the road has melted, and the lake is covered with large puddles of water.

According to this CBC report, Ottawa received a record 45mm of rain by 3:45pm, the previous record was 11mm. A number of roads were flooded - including parts of Highway 401 and some on/off ramps on Highway 417. Cross-country skiing trails were also closed, as was the Rideau Canal which was closed to skaters.

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