I looked at the water level of Lake Ontario yesterday and it is high this year. The reports are that it is higher than in 2017, which was a record year. That made some of the beaches off-limits along the Niagara shores of Lake Ontario in 2017.
We had mist come in from the escarpment yesterday along with cool temperatures, and one could imagine it was a San Francisco day. It is being repeated this morning. We in Grimsby are getting a small experience of what it is like in San Francisco.
What makes fog a common occurrence along the pacific coastline? The temperature of the Pacific Ocean means there is a lot of evaporated moisture. There is a marine layer of water vapour near the surface and this encounters the colder waters along the coast. The result is fog. There are aerial pictures of fog entering San Francisco through the Golden Gate - a fascinating weather story.
What I notice this morning, beyond the weather, is that one of the headlines is about Pizza Pizza. It changed its original pan recipe after four decades. This was reported by CNN. It has a new cheese blend, new sauce and is baked in a newly engineered pan designed to turn out a crispier crust. Meanwhile, the news at Little Caesars Pizza is that vegan sausage has made its appearance in the Impossible Supreme Pizza. What makes this national news? Maybe this is because 43% of consumers order at pizza at least once a week. And don't forget the keto diet where cauliflower pizza crusts are on the rise. This is also a news item.
Here's the beehive gazebo at Winterthur, with the peonies in the foreground.
November is the month of storms on Lake Ontario. So if we go to the International Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Board website - ijc.org and the weekly regulation summary, it says that the outflow is expected to be the what's in the plan.
For the week ending Wed Nov 1 2017 the reading was 74.84 m (245.54 ft) and the average this time of year is 74.56m (244.62 ft). So it looks like about a foot above last year's levels.
We have a strong wind warning in effect. With a weather buoy located in Grimsby, we can look at our readings. The current conditions say that the wave height is 0.1 metres, while other places, such as South Georgian Bay have wave heights of 1.0 metres. I hadn't realized that there is a temperature measurement in Grimsby - we're at air temperature of 12 Celsius and water temperature of 13C.
There are colour charts of the Grimsby Buoy at windfinder.com.
Our spring and autumn lake 'breezes' delay the onset of frost. This would be of note for our wine harvest. It began in September, and concludes in November when later season Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are picked. Of course the ice wines wait for the frozen temperatures of minus 8 Celsius.
Our pictures were taken last weekend with those 'breezes' quickly moving the brooding clouds past vineyards and fields. The large tractor in the vineyard is a mechanical picker.
