What a strange beginning to the winter. The mid-north of Ontario experienced a late winter, with almost no snow until a week before Christmas. I could see people jogging in their shorts, where normally they’d be cross-country skiing in their parkas. No complaints though – once it hit, it hit hard. I remember watching the big storm in Wisconsin as the Green Bay Packers played a home game. We were getting the same storm, although we were about 800 miles away.

Across Canada, there have been a number of weather-related incidents. On a highway west of Quebec City, there was a 30 car pileup on Highway 40. At least 20 people were hurt, with one listed as serious. The roads were icy and several vehicles, including tractor trailers, were sent spinning off the highway. As always, most people follow as closely when driving in the winter as they do in the summer. That’s often not enough as hard braking often results in skidding. And braking in slippery conditions requires a longer margin for error than in optimal summer conditions. People often forget what they’re doing once they get behind the wheel and revert to their usual habits. That can be fatal in the winter.

Speaking of slippery, the west coast hasn’t escaped the winter conditions. The new Port Mann Bridge in Vancouver have once again been formed to apologize for poor service, as a crash that led to a 40-vehicle pileup led to at least one injury and a huge traffic snarl. A spokesperson for the company that manages the bridge admits that it was not de-iced overnight and formally apologized. While the lack of maintenance was disturbing the apology was refreshing – so often, those responsible for problems deny in order to prevent potential lawsuits – an attitude that causes so much anger that it actually provokes the very lawsuits they were trying to prevent. So, good on you Transportation Investment Corp. Now get your bridge maintenance in order.

In this case, the corporation had hired a company to do the de-icing and they did not apply enough salt brine. As anyone knows, bridges are the first roadways to ice up, and this isn’t the place to skimp. Of course, sub-contractors like this are notorious for cutting corners. It’s too bad the bridge corporation didn’t name that contractor, since they really were the ones responsible. Unfortunately, the same bridge spokesperson was forced to apologize a couple of weeks previous to this incident when poor maintenance (or inexperience with the weather conditions after a snow storm) caused large chunks of ice to drop from the overhead cables, damaging about 250 vehicles, and injuring two people. Of course, the bridge was closed and traffic was a mess.

In recompense, the company offered to cover all insurance claims and to give free tolls to the drivers who were affected.

Brazil misses out on the slippery conditions due to snow, but they get their own version of slip and slide. North of Rio de Janeiro, almost 215 mm of rain fell in just 24 hours, causing a state of alert in the same areas where mudslides have caused hundreds of fatalities in over the past few years. So far, one person has died as a result of the rains and floods.

Predicting the Weather in Space

We know that the moon affects the earth’s tides. But the sun also has effects on the earth’s weather – and also on the earth’s power grid. And some satellite resources that are typically used for tracking the earth’s weather, are now being used to track the “weather” on the sun.

For more information, read on:

Image by wili_hybrid via Flickr

The sun’s peak of solar activity this year will likely be the quietest seen in at least 100 years, say NASA scientists who watch Earth’s closest star daily.

Predicting Space Weather

Sunspot numbers are low, researchers said, even as the sun reaches the peak of its 11-year activity cycle. Also, radio waves that are known to indicate high solar activity have been very subdued.

“It’s likely to be the lowest solar maximum, as measured by sunspot ‘number,’ in more than a century,” wrote Joe Gurman, a project scientist for NASA’s sun-observing mission Stereo, or Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory. The current sun weather cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24.

Quiet as the sun may be, scientists still have a vested interest in watching it. A rogue flare could damage electrical grids or knock out communications satellites, as has happened many times before.

Though solar science is still in its infancy, it has advanced greatly even from the time solar activity knocked out much of Quebec’s electrical grid in 1989, Gurman pointed out. [Worst Solar Storms in History]

“The interconnectedness of power grids has grown tremendously since the Hydro Québec issue,” he wrote.

“Compared to the frequency of widespread power outages due to trees falling on above-ground power lines during snowstorms or hurricane-force winds from storms such as the recent [Hurricane] Sandy, it’s a very low order of probability event.” …..

Improvements in solar science

Solar watching is a young science, but in recent decades, NASA has been working to improve the ability to predict and track solar flares and CMEs. The primary way is through using satellites to peer at the sun.

The United States’ official “space weather” forecaster is the Space Weather Prediction Center, a service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Several NASA satellites feed the center data to assist with its predictions.

According to NASA’s William Pesnell, NASA’s satellites work together like this:

• The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) can watch for CMEs from the moment they erupt from the sun.
• The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) watches the charged particles, or plasma, on their journey toward Earth, making it easier to determine if they will hit the planet.
• If the plasma is Earth-bound, the two Stereo satellitesorbiting the planet then observe the plasma and predict where it could hit.

.”…More at Sun’s 2013 Solar Storm Peak Expected to Hit Century Low

Here’s a fun thing to do, for those of you going stir-crazy in 30 below weather. Fill up a squirt gun (supersoakers are the best) with hot water. Then go outside, in the dark, and shoot it under the porch lights. The water will instantly turn into frozen vapor and it will look like tracers flying through the darkness. Here’s a non-Supersoaker example.

Image by Vonderauvisuals via Flickr

It wasn’t the best Christmas season ever, according to North American retailers. That’s the season that is make-it-or-break-it time for many businesses in the retail sector. However, Mother Nature is now giving that struggling sector a break. The extra-cold weather has given many retailers a boost. Read on for more information:

Call it the Christmas gift that came late.

The freezing weather that has blanketed large swaths of the country for the past several days is just the catalyst retailers needed to spur demand for cold-weather gear — except that it hit after many of them had already begun post-holiday markdowns.

“It was too late to turn back for retailers,” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, said via e-mail. He said the cold snap will help sales, but it came “a little late.”

January and February are typically the slowest months for retailers. In 2013, this seasonal trough came on the heels of a holiday season during which consumer spending failed to live up to expectations, rising a lower-than-projected 3 percent.

Thanks to the plummeting temperatures, stores’ cold-weather inventory won’t be languishing on racks come springtime. But the drawback is that they’ll make smaller profits on those discounted gloves, hats and boots.

“Most of the sales that are getting done are getting done on discounts,” said Christian Buss, apparel and softlines analyst at Credit Suisse. “The business is going to get done, it’s just not going to be…More at Freezing temps give stores a January thaw

VIDEO: Most Embarrassed Bride Ever? – The Weather Channel

Appears in: Top Stories … Parental Controls · Ad Choices. Back to Home. © 1995 – 2013. The …
See all stories on this topic »

Cold Weather Shelter opens in Regina

“We are providing an additional 15 beds for cold wet weather because we don't want anybody caught out in the cold,” said Captain Ben Lippers, executive director of the Salvation Army Waterston Centre. The temporary new beds located in the basement of …
See all stories on this topic »

NC mountains under winter weather warning

A winter storm warning for heavy snow means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring and significant amounts of snow are forecast that will make travel dangerous, according to the National Weather Service. If you live in the area …
See all stories on this topic »

When the weather outside is frightful there’s nothing quite like sitting around the piano and having an old-fashioned sing-along. You can still get the old upright pianos that I took lessons on when I was a child. In fact, the best concert pianos are still upright acoustic grand pianos. However, technology has surely advanced since my day. You can now get digital keyboards that will provide much the same sound as that of a concert grand piano. A great example is the Yamaha Arius YDP-161. This digital piano actually has the look of a regular upright, although it takes up much less space. And it’s piano sound is taken from one of Yamaha’s best acoustic grand pianos. In case you didn’t know, Yamaha has been producing concert level grand pianos for almost 100 years.

The fun thing about the Yamaha 161 is that it incorporates a number of digital piano features. For example it allows you to record a song that you played, and play it back so you can either critique yourself or play along with your previous song. That way, you’ve always got a playing partner. The YDP-161 also allows you to add a background drumbeat and use a number of different instrumental sounds when you play. For example, if you prefer the sound of organ music, you can have the piano produce that sound. And even though it’s a digital piano, it provides much of the same functionality as an upright acoustic piano. For example it has a very similar pedal response, and variable touch sensitivity. And, unlike an acoustic piano, you never have to tune the darn thing.

It does take up less space in your living room, although that does mean there is less room to hold your drinks when you’re standing around the old piano belting out your old favorites. Ah well, nothing is perfect!

Winter is cold and flu season – in Canada you can tell the season is here by looking out your front window and seeing the snow banks lining your street. One of the best ways to avoid a cold or bout of the flu is to boost your immune system. And one of the best ways to do that is by eating foods that are high in antioxidants.

Acai berry supplements have an extremely high level of antioxidants per serving. And one of the best supplements that I’ve found is called Pure Acai Berry Max. It contains 1500 mg of Acai per serving, which is very high. And the berries are flash frozen, which helps to maintain their potency. If you’re interested you can buy acai berry here and be assured that it’s a reputable product.

Antioxidant-rich foods such as acai berries or blueberries help to neutralize free radicals – molecules that can damage cell structures such as cell membranes. When you ingest antioxidants, you are boosting your body’s store of antioxidants thereby reducing the ability of free radicals to cause damage. Less damage means less chance of an illness such as a cold or flu. And, if you do catch a cold or flu, the duration and intensity of illness will tend to be less.

Of course the research on antioxidants continues, and while still not definitive, the results have been promising. The potential for protection against severe chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer may be a possibility, although as I said, the research is not yet definitive with human subjects.

Contrary to popular belief, cold weather itself is not the cause of cold and flu. However, cold weather such as the the 20 degree below temperatures we’re currently experiencing, does drive people indoors where they are more likely to breathe the same air and make physical contact with each other. And it is this contact that causes the rapid spread of colds and flu.

Spring is almost here, but in my northern part of the continent, we still have a lot of snow on the ground. In fact, there’s a forecast for additional snow for tomorrow. It is been a very late winter and I have to admit it is becoming quite discouraging. The thaw is at least a month later than last year.

Normally at this time of year people want to get into the fresh air and exercise outdoors. However, the snow, the cold, the wind, and the icy footing strips a lot of that motivation away. A great option is to exercise in your home, and there is a lot of home exercise equipment that makes this easy to do.

The recumbent exercise bike is just such a piece of equipment. Unlike a regular exercise bicycle, the recumbent exercise bicycle is lower to the ground with the pedals located in front of the writer as opposed to beneath. This allows for a very comfortable seating position that mimics sitting in a regular chair. Lumbar support is much better, saddle sores are prevented, and riders feel more comfortable so are able to exercise for longer periods of time.

An exercise bike like this might be your best option You can get more information about recumbent exercise bikes at http://recumbentcycle.net/recumbent-exercise-bike/