Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Ice Storm Damage

The ice storm that swept into southern Ontario before Christmas affected a large area from London to the eastern stretches of the province before moving on. This was the case in Guelph, the largest city in Wellington County, where I spent the holidays.

The Speed River flows through the city, open in portions along the way such as along this stretch, offering a place for ducks and geese to spend the winter. The coating of ice from the storm is visible on branches and long grasses along the riverbed.



The evergreen trees, though burdened down by ice at this point, have flexible branches that stand up to ice storms better than other trees.


Fallen branches were typical along this part of the river.


There'll be some branches to remove as the spring comes, some trees with broken branches that need to be pruned. Other parts of the province got hit harder.


Still, not far away, you can see more serious effects of the storm. This pathway has more fallen branches, and branches heavy with the weight of ice alongside it.


Riverside Park is close by, and in this first shot, the weight of ice is heavy on the trees, as beautiful as it can be.


And in this last shot, we see the shattering effects of an ice storm on trees. This particular one in Riverside Park has been destroyed.



23 comments:

  1. It's sad for the damage but it's natural damage... And it's winter wonderland!

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  2. I suspect as bad as it looks for the trees, there's probably a reason for it. Perhaps it's Nature pruning out the weak and dead branches ?

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  3. Ice storms often leave scenes that look artistic and attractive yet the damage is so severe!

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  4. Damage from the severe winter weather is a sadly unchangeable truth - but your images capture the true beauty of winter!

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  5. @Ciel: it does have that effect.

    @Stuart: perhaps it is nature's way... the effect is quite long term. There was a major ice storm here in Eastern Ontario in the late 90s, and all these years later you can still see its effect in places.

    @Mike: thank you!

    @Barbara: powerful indeed!

    @Kate: In this case it was quite widespread.

    @LondonLulu: it's quite a contrast: destructive but beautiful.

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  6. Ice storms are lovely but so dangerous with falling power lines and broken trees. I must say I don't miss them after moving further south!

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  7. I'm so happy I do not live in that climate. I've had enough of tree branches impaling my roof. At least there it is just nature which eventually heals such scars.

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  8. You have a lot of damage made by the snow. We had a lot of damage made by the crazy ocean which, in many places, turned into small tsunamis.

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  9. So much ice and cold! I'm happy to be in (relatively) warm Germany!

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  10. My bad. I didn't know you had this blog. But now you're added to my Photography & Movies blogroll. By the way, burrrrrr.

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  11. It will be interesting to see the results of all the damage come spring!

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  12. Beautiful pictures, William. I've been through my share of ice storms!
    P.S.Sending you more cold back up your way. Hope you don't mind (^;

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  13. @Cheryl: the falling power lines are a real nuisance.

    @Mari: what struck me was the fresh breaks you could see in the wood, where the branches or trunks had just snapped. It doesn't take long for that freshness of the wood to fade.

    @JM: I know Europe got some crazy weather the last few weeks...

    @Halcyon: cold is good for you, you know!

    @Whisk: now you know! And it's cold. It's a good thing!

    @RedPat: it might take that long to gauge the damage.

    @Lorelei: of course I don't mind!

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  14. Ditto what Krisztina said!

    Why won't Facebook let me share this one?

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  15. Wow, that looks like it was quite a storm! I hope you didn't lose power? I had some friends who did and it was pretty crazy. As devastating as it was, your pictures are very pretty :/

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  16. Driving around yesterday, I saw quite a few branches piled up by the side of the road ready to be picked up.

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  17. So sorry about all that damage. But the snowy pics are amazing. I'm a little jealous, as I love the snow, here in Upstate NY all our snow has melted and I'm currently looking at mud and grass. I'd rather stare at these snowy pictures.

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  18. @EG: and over such a wide area.

    @Krisztina: that's the strange contrast.

    @Norma: Facebook can be a pain in the butt!

    @Meradeth: at my dad's place, the power was out for twelve hours. He had friends who lost power for several days, but they had a generator backup and a woodstove to keep warm with.

    @Hamilton: that'll be going on for a few weeks.

    @M.R.: just wait for the big February Blizzard.

    @Linda: it certainly does!

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