Another cold day and the ice left behind after the recent thaw continues to impress.
I suspect someone might have arranged this; it looks like some kind of abstract ice sculpture.
The sun lit up these clear ice blocks quite dramatically.
Trees have resisted the march of the ice – at some cost to themselves.
Strong forces pushed these blocks upright to form an ice cave.
Interesting reflections in the river.
The ice-covered island is reflected in the smooth waters above the weir.
Now that the snow has stopped, here are some clearer pictures of the latest ice encroachment.
Trees have had a tough time here since the weir was installed and raised water levels.
The Humber is narrow yet deep here and ice dams form regularly at this point and beyond. If you look at the right of the above image, it’s possible to see where water floods in occasionally and has carved a depression that will one day create an island here.
Ice covers the footpath – but wait, there’s more…
The ice continues from the footpath at least 100m from the river.
New ice begins to form.
We’re in for a few days of cold weather so the process is likely to start all over again.
Every year it’s the same old whine – “I wish I could be there when the ice breaks up on the river”. Well, I could have been there and I wasn’t. While I was home, the rest of the ice decided to move off without anyone to witness it. I took some shots today while a streamer from Lake Huron was busy dumping a surprising amount of snow onto the park.
Some comparisons are in order to show the changes:
January 29, 2013
January 31, 2013 the grass has been demolished by ice moving ashore.
January 29, 2013; track through the wild area. Houses once occupied land to the right of this photograph.
January 31, 2013; track is buried.
Until 1954 and the Hurricane Hazel disaster, more than a few homes were quite near this location by the Humber. I wonder how regular incursions of ice affected them and their properties. Residents at the time must have had some pretty close calls.This is a fairly average depth of ice to float ashore but the extent of it is quite surprising – further along, the ice actually covers the bike path.
Hard to see where it is but ice now covers the bike path.
A mild night and as expected, the rising river broke up the ice and floated some of it ashore overnight. I have been waiting for years to see this event but it always seems to happen overnight for some reason. One spectacular thing about today from a photographer’s standpoint is the fog that formed as warm air hit the relatively cold ground and river. This came and went in a low-lying layer and changed quickly so that you could actually wait for the most photogenic formation.
Ice pushed ashore – not very thick compared to some years.
As this is a fairly brief thaw, much of the ice above the weir has remained in place and will create a large dam once the weather turns colder. Spring might bring the promise of a spectacular flood.
Ducks wait onshore for calmer waters.
Birds were very much in evidence today with starlings and robins foraging in the newly visible grass while ducks found open water a bit too rough.
Robins look for food as fog ebbs and flows over the cold water.
A light layer of mist adds an air of mystery to the woods.
Trees reflect in the saturated ground.
Back to winter tomorrow!
In the spring, everything turns green, the weather becomes pleasant and the park gets crowded. Today is gloomy, slushy and mild with rain. In spite of that, I was blown away by the amount of colour still to be seen. Better still, I had the place to myself.
It’s probably an invasive species of grass but it does look nice by the river.
Because of the mild weather, a mist was hiding much of the horizon.
Looking south towards the weir.
I guess it’s an accentuation of the fainter and bluer shift that distance provides; no matter, it’s a great look, especially when the apartments at Eglinton are less prominent.
In the woods, colour meets texture.
Finally, the handiwork of the tree pruning company that spent long days in the park recently searching high and low for things to cut. The red of the cuts contrasts nicely with the green of the lichen. I had to check the images on the camera at the time and yes, the colours really were like that today!
Colour by Davey and nature.
Today is a grey and misty day as the latest warm front has arrived dumping snow, freezing rain and now plain old rain. Mugsey decided he would scratch himself on a tree and he posed nicely for the camera.
Mugsey loves the snow – can you tell?
As we were passing by the bridge, a pair of young white-tailed deer moved silently past on the other side and cautiously crossed over the ice into Raymore Park. Even though the zoom on the RX100 is only 3.6, the sheer number of pixels (5472 x 3080) allows for some zooming at home – especially in this medium.
Apologies for the pole in the middle of the picture.
There is lots of feed above the shallow layer of snow to keep them going – we’ve had a pretty easy winter so far with rain and mild temperatures predicted for tomorrow and especially Wednesday (13°C).
Ice doesn’t appear on the Humber in sheets, it forms in chunks, especially where the water moves quickly. Near the bridge the formation process can be seen as chunks moving downriver are trapped by an ice dam. The chunks flow under at first and this seems to raise the level of the river as the water’s progress is blocked. It’s probably a good thing for aquatic wildlife too, ensuring a good layer of insulation as water flows underneath.
Ice chunks gathering together to form a frozen surface.
Further down by the wild area and especially towards the weir, the ice is already solid. You’d never be able to skate on it but it’s quite thick after some cold days and nights.
The river level is higher than normal as a result of ice damming.
Down by the dam, a family felt the ice was safe enough to cross from Denison Park to the island.
Brave people test the ice.
We’re expecting a thaw mid-week along with lots of rain. Much of the ice will end up in huge piles by the shore.
With no wind, powder snow balances precariously on last year’s growth.
It was -21°C this morning. Luckily there was no wind but the park was empty of wildlife.
Ice is thickening rapidly by the weir and seems to have formed in record time. Apparently this week, it’s colder over the middle of the continent than over the North Pole.
A narrow but persistent finger of snow has been streaming from Lake Huron down to Toronto all morning and has given us several centimetres of snow. Coupled with a temperature of -14°C, and a wind chill of -21°C, this makes for a tough day for wildlife which seems to have completely disappeared apart from the occasional deer and squirrel.
2013 01 22, Looking south just before Humber Creek.
There are some parts of Raymore Park – probably not enough – where nature is allowed to take its course. When trees die, they stay where they are and eventually return their materials back to other living things. This tree is in one of these areas. At one time, people lived in the flood plain and this tree may have been part of someone’s garden at one stage.
April 2004
In this part of the park, the Humber curves quite sharply and housing above the valley seems to perch precariously on the edge. To the left of the first photo, one of the neighbours of these homes learned a painful and costly lesson in erosion when overnight, a large chunk of their property, including several trees, disappeared into the river. Much remedial work was needed to stabilize the bank.
Friends of Raymore Park 