Nature wreaks her wrath on a new year!

We're not alone in celebrating a new year from the inside, while the elements outside rage about.

Canoe news did a little survey of coast to coast weather conditions and 2006 left like a Lion and turned things over to the other Lion for the start of 2007. In particular, Prince Rupert gets a high profile mention with this quote:

On B.C.'s north coast, gale-force winds have hampered ferry services since last week and residents were preparing for more of the same.

Clayton Morrison, the manager of a Tim Horton's in Prince Rupert, said he's never seen the weather this severe. "It's blowing out windows on cars," he said, noting two windows of his neighbour's van broke a few days ago after being pelted with grit and high winds.

All the wild weather coast to coast will have Canadians running to the video store to watch Al Gore's epic tribute to Global warming, An Inconvenient truth.

That is if they feel like going out of the house, the full coast to coast review is provided below.



New Year weather 'horrible'
Tue, January 2, 2007
Canadians greet 2007 under a wide and bizarre range of weather conditions.
By LISA ARROWSMITH, CP

EDMONTON -- While New Year's Day was downright toasty for scuba divers taking a fundraising dip in Toronto's harbour, residents of B.C.'s western coast battened down the hatches again after warnings they could get up to 180 millimetres of rain and gale-force winds.
Environment Canada issued rainfall warnings for southern B.C. and heavy snowfall warnings for the province's Interior yesterday.

Southern Ontario's record-breaking 9 C temperatures brought out groups of motorcyclists, tennis players and street hockey enthusiasts. But the unusually warm temperatures also brought out concerns that Canadians are reaping the effects of climate change.

"It shouldn't really be this warm," said a coatless Jennifer Case as she enjoyed a bowl of noodles at a picnic bench in Toronto. "It probably has to do with all the cars going around (the city)."
"I think it's horrible, it's global warming actualized and we've been talking about it for years and now it's happening," said Kim Menzies as she had a cigarette outside Toronto's Eaton Centre.
"It's frightening."

On B.C.'s north coast, gale-force winds have hampered ferry services since last week and residents were preparing for more of the same.

Clayton Morrison, the manager of a Tim Hortons in Prince Rupert, said he's never seen the weather this severe.

"It's blowing out windows on cars," he said, noting two windows of his neighbour's van broke a few days ago after being pelted with grit and high winds.

After weeks of unusually mild temperatures with little snow, freezing rain and heavy rainfall warnings came as a bit of a shock to many Atlantic Canadians.

Polar Bear dippers plunged from a wharf in Herring Cove, N.S. to celebrate the New Year, but Stephen Cheung, 38, who researches hypothermia at Dalhousie University, wasn't interested.
"I do this all the time in my lab, so I don't feel a huge need to do it," he laughed.

All these weather extremes aren't that unusual this time of year, say experts.

"Keep in mind that Canada is a rather wide country," said Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Coldwells from Vancouver. "That's why we end up with these areas where we can have really cold and wet weather in one area, and contrast that with the really warm weather in the East."

Plows in Winnipeg began to get the upper hand yesterday on a vicious winter storm that blew through on the weekend, dumping up to 36 centimetres of snow in some areas.

Quebecers were left dealing with their own share of misery on the first day of the new year. Freezing rain, hail and snow hit throughout the province early yesterday. But higher than normal temperatures meant motorists avoided nightmarish driving conditions.