Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Toronto weather phenomena


We seem to have some rather odd weather phenomena in this part of the country:

Nor'easter: a macro-scale storm whose winds come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. More specifically, it describes a low pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the coast and whose leading winds in the left forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast. The precipitation pattern is similar to other extratropical storms. They also can cause coastal flooding, coastal erosion and gale force winds.

Holy moly, the "leading winds in the left forward quadrant" were definitely rotating in Toronto yesterday. I've seen windy but this was hurricane-force. I think I saw a cat fly by the office window yesterday.

Alberta Clipper: A clipper originates when warm, moist winds from the Pacific Ocean come into contact with the mountains in the provinces of British Columbia and then Alberta. The storms sweep in at high speed over whatever land they encounter, usually bringing with them sharp cold fronts and drastically lower temperatures. It is not uncommon for an Alberta clipper to cause temperatures to drop by 30°F (16°C) in as little as 10 to 12 hours. Often, the storms bring biting winds with them, only increasing the effect of the newly lower temperatures. Winds in advance and during an Alberta clipper are frequently as high as 35 to 45 mph (56 to 72 km/h).

This phenomenon isn't very pleasant either. We had several of these this past winter.

I guess what I'm trying to say (in a very roundabout way) is that we've not had any nice weather yet this year. We may never get nice weather.