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[ciroccoj]

Canadians waiting for winter, wondering how it will affect national identity
Sat Jan 6, 5:58 PM
By James Keller

HALIFAX (CP) - Canada's typically harsh winter weather continued to spare most of the country over the weekend as mild conditions prevailed instead of the snow and deep freeze many would expect at the start of January.

And while many cheerfully enjoyed the unseasonal treat, others pondered what it all means for Canada's national identity.

Asin Khan, 26, of Halifax said this winter has been a stark change from what he remembers in his youth.

"Fourteen years ago, we used to get extreme snow in the winter - really long winters with deep, deep snow - but lately we're lucky to get a white Christmas," said Khan, seeking cover from a steady rain.

"It is quite alarming, but I'm sure we'll get a couple of storms in the next couple of months."

Climatologists have predicted 2007 will be the warmest year on record, but Canadians who have been trading their parkas for T-shirts over the past few weeks likely don't need experts to tell them something is up.

Snow is a rarity in many regions this season, with ski hills and tourist operators complaining the weather has been melting away their bottom line.

In Ottawa, the Rideau Canal, billed as the world's longest skating rink, still isn't frozen.

Environment Canada senior climatologist David Philips says the weather is gradually becoming warmer but Canadians shouldn't think current conditions herald a new winter reality.

"You can't use this as a forecast; you can't say this is the beginning of balmy winters from now on," says Phillips.

"I think this is in fact a preview, a dry run of the normal winter that we'll see in 2030, 2040."

Phillips says several factors have likely contributed to the wacky winter, including El Nino, the cyclical southerly winds that bring warmer weather up from the United States.

Jacques Veillette of Montreal, who has taken advantage of the change by riding his bike instead of taking the bus, doesn't think Canadians should be worried just yet about losing their identity as a hardy, cold-weather population.

"A lot of Canadians and Quebecers go down to Florida in winter and that doesn't put the national identity in peril," says Veillette on a break from a bike ride in the city's Mount Royal Park.

Elsewhere in the park, near a slushy pond that's usually a hot spot for skaters, Amirousche Bemmerar agrees, but points out the changing climate is having some widespread implications.

"If you talk about it from nature's perspective, it's lost some of its appeal (in winter)," says Bemmerar.

Bill Gough, a climatologist at the University of Toronto, suspects warmer winters could change how Canadians relate to the typically harsh season, especially as it becomes easier to live through.

"I think we really do define ourselves by the weather - it's the first thing we say in our conversations," says Gough.

"If you go to a literary route, Margaret Atwood has this whole theory that for Canadians, survival is our identity. And it's becoming less true. It's easier to survive."

Aroka Kushner, owner of a jewellery stand on a high-traffic street in downtown Vancouver, wonders how all this talk of mild weather will affect her city.

Vancouver was sitting at a seasonable nine degrees on Saturday, with people taking advantage of a rare sunny and dry day after weeks of record-breaking wind and rain storms.

"Vancouver's different because we usually get rain and we don't get much snow," says Kushner. "I don't think Vancouver identifies with the ice fishing and everything."

In Toronto, where temperatures were expected to continue hovering a few degrees above freezing for the next few days, Sarah Campbell seemed perplexed.

"It's kind of weird," says Campbell, who is more accustomed to the mild weather of her native Scotland. "This time last year, it was snowstorms."

She says she's most concerned about Canadians of a different sort.

"I just think about the poor polar bears. I feel badly for them."

Meanwhile, Quebec's Green party used the warm January weekend to score some political points.

The party threw what it called a Picnic in January in Montreal's Mount Royal Park on Saturday.

Picnic-goers, who were forced inside because of rain, were treated to ice cream and maple syrup to mark the spring-like temperatures.

"We grasped the opportunity just to remind people that climate change is not going to go away," said party leader Scott McKay.

"It's going to continue, it's accelerating and actually we have to do something about it."
Link to the article

Comments

[a-dawn.livejournal.com]

It really is boggling my mind, the weather this year. I mean, it's not sudden - I remember all the radio jokes last year about "Waterlude", but it still feel drastic. And actually, Winterlude is how I gauge the changing of the season. I've been in Ottawa almost 10 years now (!!) and every year those ice sculptures melt faster.

[batita.livejournal.com]

more chaotic weather all around... you have crazy mild winter. here in squamish we've had multiple floods, roads washed out, freak snowstorms causing multi-day power outages. wtf is right. the thing about the whole global warming thing is all the extra energy it's putting into the atmosphere. someplaces will get warmer, and drier, while others could just get more stormy. who's to know? at any rate, the times they are a changin'.