City Daily Photo Theme Day: Climate

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians! 

The first day of each month is a theme day for City Daily Photo, and for July, that theme is Climate. See how others are interpreting this theme right here.

Climate is defined as the weather pattern for a given area over an extended period of time. Winters in Ottawa tend to be cold and snowy; spring is mild and varied. Summers get hot and humid here, while autumn begins the slide into winter. And then there's climate change- personified in the last few weeks by forest fires in various parts of Canada, including a couple of hours up the valley from Ottawa, sending smoke our way, as well as other parts of the continent. One evening on my way home I noticed the sun could be looked at without protection. Varying my zoom feature on my phone, I took several shots.

The following morning, the haze was worse. The Chinatown Arch stands here. There are buildings in the distance one can see under normal conditions, but the smoke rendered them invisible.

Later that morning, passing by Lansdowne Park, I took this shot of the morning skies over the stadium.

But the winds shifted, and the air cleared, at least for a time. This shot of the Chinatown Arch had skies much more as they ought to be.

And some days later, the winds shifted again, and we were dealing with the smoke again. I took this shot in mid-June from the Portage Bridge.

By contrast, this was taken late in the month, on what was a brooding but cool day. Architectural details were more clear than what they had been. But the winds would shift again, and a day later we were back in the smoky haze.