Tracking and predicting severe wind events is a current challenge for meteorologists and researchers.
“In the past, we wouldn’t know that wind events were happening,” says Gerald Cheng, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). “People have to report them.”
That is why ECCC meteorologists now watch social media for storm activity, in addition to sending out alerts. “When we see that the damage is extensive, we will survey the area,” says Cheng.
ECCC also partners with Western University’s Northern Tornado Project to monitor and capture tornados and downburst activity.
“In 2017, our first year of looking for tornados in forested areas of Ontario and Quebec, we saw a record-breaking tornado outbreak,” says David Sills, a doctor from Western University’s Northern Tornado Project (NTP). “That is because we were looking for them.”
Current NTP findings
The NTP found that tornadoes are being spotted later in the season, but the frequency of tornadoes is not increasing over time.
They are also comparing data from 1980 to 1990 and from 1991 to 2020 and are working on a new 30-year climate projection. Surprisingly, they found more severe wind activity in eastern and southern Quebec, not the prairies, where they expected to see it. The next dataset will determine if this is an actual trend or an anomaly.
In the meantime, the NTP is relying on satellite technology to track tornadoes and downbursts. “If there is damage, it pops up pretty quickly,” says Sills. “We have found tornados that would’ve otherwise been lost.”
How the ECCC monitors severe wind activity
The ECCC primarily uses radar technology to track weather patterns, but detecting severe wind activity continues to be difficult as the technology evolves.
To overcome these challenges, ECCC has put in 33 new radars since 2017, eight of which are in Ontario. These radars cover most of the province until the Fort Severn area. “If we to know if these events are on the rise, we will need a complete data set,” says Cheng.
Even with these advancements, predicting weather remains a challenge. “There’s a limit to the amount of lead time in predicting storms,” says Cheng. “Alerts are not 100 per cent accurate. People need to know the signs of severe weather.”
How can people prepare?
Public education is just as crucial as the alert system. There will always be a possibility of severe weather, so “people should check the forecast before going outside and be situationally aware when they are outdoors,” says Cheng.
ECCC recommends going to your basement when you are at home. If you are outside, stay low, protect your core, and seek shelter immediately.
And, when it comes to protecting cottages, Sills acknowledges a significant challenge. “Trees protect cottages from wind damage, but once in a while, a dead or decaying tree might also fall and cause damage,” he says.
Cottages near the shore are at an even greater risk. “There’s nothing to protect them from the winds coming across the lake. So, people should stormproof their shore,” Sills recommends.
Help the NTP and ECCC help Canadians. Report any severe wind damage by visiting the NTPwebsite.
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The needles on some of my evergreens have turned brown. My neighbour at the cottage told me that she thinks it’s from winter burn. Could she be correct? Will the trees recover?—Linda Kerry, via email
Without seeing the trees, it’s impossible to know for sure—tree foliage can turn brown for many reasons. But your neighbour could be right.
“Winter burn occurs when a tree loses more water through its leaves than it can absorb from the frozen ground,” says Ryan Statham, the district manager at the Strathroy, Ont., office of Davey Tree Expert Company. There are multiple possible symptoms to look for, including brown, dry foliage; discoloured, damaged, or cracked bark; and in the spring, die back at the tips of the branches, with no new growth.
The severity of winter burn is—at least in part—a function of the weather conditions the tree experiences through the winter. Cold, dry air and high winds cause trees to lose water through their leaves—it’s called “transpiration,” says Statham. Other factors, such as a lack of snow cover to insulate the tree roots, or sudden temperature changes—a rapid thaw followed by a sudden freeze—also put trees and shrubs at risk for losing moisture without being able to replace it.
Happily, a tree in good health can recover from winter burn on its own. (Winter burn is more destructive to a tree that’s already stressed because of other factors—pests, for example.) But if you’re concerned for your trees, and you can get up to the cottage during a warm spell, “water them deeply,” says Statham. Apply mulch to the base of the trees to insulate their roots. Come spring, prune damaged branches. This will encourage the trees to produce more healthy growth, he explains.
As is usually the case with tree problems, “prevention is the best measure when it comes to winter burn,” says Statham. Trees that are directly exposed to wind are most vulnerable. Water thoroughly in the fall and apply three to four inches of mulch at the tree’s base. You could also treat the tree’s foliage with an anti-desiccant spray, says Statham. It acts as a waxy coating and helps to seal in moisture.
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
A voice from the wilderness
Get The Great Outdoors, our biweekly brief on all things nature
Dan Bartoli is a Canadian superdude. By day, he is a soft-spoken, mild-mannered electrical engineer who works for a global manufacturing conglomerate. From the company’s outpost in a Peterborough, Ont., industrial park, he designs and builds tiny, mundane machines. “We make instruments that measure volume and level using ultrasound,” he tells me. I had no idea such contraptions existed, but apparently, lots of companies need lots and lots of them, and they’re not cheap. The work has kept him busy, endlessly improving his mousetrap for decades.
But once he clocks out from work, Dan seeks out adventure, attempting feats of derring-do using way cooler gadgets. He is fit and lithe, seemingly without an ounce of body fat, a late-fifties guy with the cut physique of eternal youth. Only the salt-and-pepper hair hints at his years. On this mid-March weekend, we are at his cottage north of Buckhorn, Ont., on the shores of Gold Lake. A snug log cabin hideaway is built atop a massive granite slope, but the little wooden shed down by the lake is where he keeps his gear.
The day is cold but cloudless, and the lake is blanketed by a thick sheet of ice and a cushion of fresh snow. Dan’s wearing mirrored Ray-Bans to filter the bright sunlight bouncing off the white horizon, nothing but middle-aged chill. He grabs his alpine boots and slips them on, even though there’s no chairlift within an hour’s drive. Then he pulls out his skis, leaving the poles behind, and grabs the mystery gear—a waist-high duffle bag weighing less than seven pounds, along with what looks like a bicycle pump on steroids.
With pump in hand, skis slung over one shoulder and duffle bag over the other, Dan walks it all out to the middle of the frozen bay. Most guys with gear to show off can’t stop talking about it, but Dan doesn’t say a word. He is not a talker to begin with (a trait common to both mild-mannered men and their alter egos), and his silence heightens the anticipation. He drops the bag onto the ice, unzips it, and reveals his superpowered contraption. It looks like what you might get if you crossed a windsurfer with a hot-air balloon: a mast-less, hand-held triangular kite with an inflatable skeleton. Is it a bird? A parachute? No! It’s…an Armstrong A-Wing with a 5.5 m² surface area.
Dan blows up the wing’s airframe in two minutes flat with less than 100 pumps. He lays his skis on the ground, snaps his boots into their bindings, holds the wing above his head, and he’s off. It’s not a particularly windy day—not even windy enough to require the harness he sometimes uses—but the wing is so light and manoeuvrable that he can hold it at whatever angle best captures the breeze to propel him forward. He’s doing something I previously thought impossible: downhill skiing without a downhill slope, gliding effortlessly on a bald flat lake.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Game changer
The inflatable wing, though built for summer, is the winter cottage toy we’ve all been waiting for
Photo by Liam Mogan
Get hooked
In strong winds, Dan uses a windsurfing harness
to keep his arms from getting fatigued. The harness hooks onto a rope that hangs between the wing’s handles. The rope releases when he pulls the wing in close.
Standing beside me out on the ice, Dan’s wife of 34 years, Cindy, gets a chuckle out of my amazement. “You may have noticed he’s a quiet guy,” she says, “but this is what gets him woohooing.” Cindy is the chatty one in the relationship, the artist to his engineer, an amateur photographer and writer.
They’ve always been active as a couple, but Dan’s the adrenaline junkie. You should see him, she tells me, when there’s some real gusts for him to lean into, when he can slalom, spin, and practically achieve liftoff. “The first time he ever tried it was in the farmer’s field behind our neighbourhood in Peterborough,” she says. “It was very windy, but he got the hang of it fast.” As she was watching him test his wing from their bedroom window, she recalls, a neighbour texted her. “She says, ‘You gotta check this out! There’s this guy out in the field…What is that thing he’s holding? Is he on…skis? What he’s doing is unbelievable!’ She was watching him through her binoculars. She didn’t know it was Dan.”
Photo by Liam Mogan
Cozy up
The outdoors is never far from mind, even when curled up by the fire, thanks to a great collection of nature-inspired art, such as Cindy’s mom’s Bradford Exchange wildlife plates.
Photo by Liam Mogan
All are Welcome
Dan and Cindy warm up in the living room. Two futons, Ikea chairs, and a rocking bench and chair give plenty of seating for times when their kids (Jake, 31; Trevor, 29; and Sadie, 27) visit.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Treasure Trove
The cottage is an inspiring repository for Dan and Cindy’s collection of natural history books, found treasures, and other artwork.
Photo by Liam Mogan
A Snowy View
The south-facing picture window is framed by big,
mature oaks, so the cottage has the benefits of shade in summer and maximum light through the winter months.
Winter cottaging is not for everyone, but as the saying goes, those who like it, like it a lot. Cindy and Dan Bartoli’s cottage isn’t fully winterized; its central heating system is a woodstove, supplemented as necessary by portable electric heaters. But they love it here in winter. Once the fire is roaring and dinner’s in the oven, the open-concept living area cozies up and holds the heat nicely. As a bonus, the leafless winterscape provides an even better view of the bay.
The property was initially purchased by Cindy’s mother and her aunt, Peggy and Carol Noyes, who, in 1952, snapped up one-and-a-half acres of just-released Crown land with 400 feet of waterfront. The lot cost $143.70, plus a survey fee of $80.50—Cindy still has the receipts. The sale was conditional upon the construction of a private summer cottage within 18 months and valued at no less than $500. Peggy and Carol bought a prefab kit for a 20-by-24 foot structure from Peterborough Lumber and built it with the help of Peggy’s boyfriend, William Wakeford, who promptly purchased the smaller neighbouring lot and built an identical prefab on it six years later.
Theirs is an iconic Peterborough love story: Peggy worked at Quaker and Bill at General Electric, the city’s two largest employers at the time, and whose massive manufacturing plants still dominate the cityscape (though GE’s beautiful red-brick buildings, built in the late 19th century, are now mostly empty—the company shut down its Peterborough operations in 2018). They met and married at Mark Street United Church in Peterborough’s East City neighbourhood, and had three kids who spent their summers with their cousins at the Gold Lake cottage in the Kawartha highlands. The provincial park of the same name, originally an 18 sq. km postage stamp on the map, was expanded in 2003 to 375 square clicks that now borders their lake.
Cindy loved exploring that wilderness as a kid—“It was our playground growing up,” she says. Her childhood cottage experience was rustic in the true sense of the word: no running water and an outhouse. “Whenever we complained, my mother would just say, ‘It builds character.’ It became a family punchline.” Stubbed toe? Dunked canoe? Poison ivy rash? Lose big at cards? It builds character.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Going the Distance
Once the ice is in, Dan and Cindy love to ski into
Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park, which abuts Gold Lake. ”We can go farther, faster on skis than we can by paddling and portaging,” says Cindy.
Photo by Liam Mogan
A Dog for All Seasons
Cottage dog Bruce (on the right), a Pomsky
belonging to the couple’s daughter, loves to play
outdoors all year, unlike Rosco (left), their Yorkie-
Bichon.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Blue View
In warmer weather, Dan and Cindy grill on the deck overlooking the lake.
Cindy and Dan met as third-year undergrads at Queen’s University in the mid-eighties, at a girls-night-in house party where Dan and his buddies were dressed up and serving dinner for the gals. After they’d been dating a while, she brought him up to Gold Lake for what she called the cottage relationship test: “If he can spend a week with an outhouse and no shower and still wants to come back, he might be a keeper.” (This test is really just another way of saying, “It builds character.”) Dan passed this test with honours; he and Cindy wed in 1988.
Around that same time, Peggy and Bill engineered a property deal: they traded Bill’s smaller neighbouring cottage to Carol for her share of the original cottage. That deal cleared the way for a rebuild: in 1991, 40 years after it was originally built, Peggy and Bill tore down the prefab and built the current one in its place, with a spacious porch, a hot shower, and four bedrooms surrounding the open-concept living area. And perhaps best of all, the woodstove made it possible to come up in winter.
Cindy and Dan are four-seasons-active people, preferring human-powered activities to motorized ones: canoeing over boating, Nordic skiing over snowmobiling. “But for as long as I’ve known Dan, he’s always had an affinity for wind,” Cindy says. He learned to sailboard as a teenager growing up in Sudbury, Ont., and though he’s been doing windsports his entire life, he still struggles to describe why he loves it. “The engineer in me is fascinated by the physics of it,” he says. “There’s just something about the power in the wind, when you’ve got the harness on and everything is balanced and the wind is pulling you, and you’re just flying along.” No one who sails is ever bored by sailing. Every wind is unique, and using it to power your vessel is always a test of physical and mental acuity. Even when you spill, it’s a great natural high.
But windsports are almost invariably summer sports. The only exceptions to this rule are kite skiing and ice boating, activities that entail a lot of complicated gear (the ropes on the kite are an ordeal all on their own), technical knowledge, and potential injury. Furthermore, kiting requires a very large body of frozen water, while ice boating requires a very large body of frozen water without any snow on it, which is a tall ask. They’re fussy sports. Neither is the kind of activity most cottagers can do from their waterfront.
The inflatable wing, though it was built for use on water, is the game-changing winter cottage toy that we’ve all been waiting for.
Its development was part and parcel of the recent decade-long wave in water sport innovation, including the stand-up paddleboard and the foilboard, which is basically a surfboard with a hydrofoil riveted to its underside, allowing it to rise out of the water when moving at speed. And with each of those inventions, the adrenaline junkies could only watch and wonder: wouldn’t it be cool if that thing had wings?
The key to the invention of the wing, which didn’t exist until a few years ago, was the inflatable-strut technology that forms its skeleton, which is rigid enough to catch the wind but light enough for any 14-year-old to hold over their head. The first commercial wing was introduced to the market in 2018, and it’s surprisingly affordable for such a new technology: anywhere from $700 to $2,000.
Their popularity has also been propelled by Covid-19. In fact, it was in the midst of lockdown-enforced web surfing ennui when Dan first discovered them. “We were going to go to Aruba with another couple to learn to kiteboard in the winter of 2020, but that trip fell through,” he recalls. That’s when he found some videos of winter wingers on skis and snowboards. The advantages, he says, were obvious right away. “There’s no way I could kite ski at the cottage because the lake’s not big enough. But I knew the wing could work.” He bought his A-Wing online for $1,300. Shortly thereafter, he was out in the field wowing his neighbours and, soon after that, woohooing on a frozen Gold Lake, just like he is now.
There’s only one way to end a day of winging on the lake, and that’s in the sauna. (This, by the way, is where I learned how ripped Dan is.) It’s a wood-fueled barrel sauna manufactured in Ontario by Dundalk Leisure Craft. Cindy and Dan bought it in 2018, and thanks to both the sauna and the wing, they spend more of their winter weekends at the cottage than ever before. Dan’s mother was Finnish, so affinity for saunas runs in his blood.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Some Like it Hot
Dan and Cindy relieve sore muscles after an active day on the ice.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Some Like it Cold
The author tries an icy plunge.
Once Dan gets the sauna fire roaring, he pulls out some more cool gadgets, an auger and a giant saw, to cut a hole in the ice for a cold bath. In keeping with their ethos, they’re 100 per cent human powered, no batteries or ripcords allowed. Dan’s got the system down: he draws a big triangle on the ice, drills a hole at one point, then saws straight lines between it and the other two points.
After 20 minutes in the dry sauna heat, it’s time for a dip. With total calm, Dan walks out to the triangle and lowers himself into the freezing water. He basks in it for a while before returning to the sauna. Steam rises off him like a slow-simmering human torch. I, on the other hand, a polar-bear-dip novice, can barely keep my composure as my lungs shrivel up in the water, then scamper back to the sauna like a lizard on its hind legs.
The best thing about winter winging, Dan tells me, is its accessibility. If you can ski or snowboard, you can do it. “You don’t need lessons for winging like you do with kiting,” says Dan. “It’s really easy.” There’s some learning to do when it comes to harnessing the wind—Dan can talk endlessly about optimal angles and wind direction—but you figure out the basics pretty quick.
And snow is probably a better surface for learning windsports than water. There’s no ducking under a swinging boom; no falling into the lake; no hauling yourself back onto a sailboard; no uprighting a soaked, heavy sail; no falling back in when you can’t find your balance; no deerflies biting your ankles through the entire ordeal. When you’re winter winging, you just tumble onto your kiester in the snowy cushion like you would on the slopes, and then you get back up and keep going.
Cindy is not the type to dote over or worry for her husband, but she definitely recognizes the advantages of his winter hobby. She tells me about the many injuries Dan has sustained while windsporting in summer—wrenched ankles, jammed fingers—but he won’t stop unless he’s bleeding. “Winter winging is safe,” she says, “and it has really opened up the season for him and for us.” There has never been a lower price to pay, in terms of money or risk of injury, for the adrenaline rush of windsports. It’s enough to make anyone feel super.
Want to try winging? Here’s how to get started
Look for smooth, packed snow in an open area such as a lake or field (bigger is better). In softer snow conditions, wider skis or a snowboard will work better.
Photo by Liam Mogan
Skis: Dan says he bought his skis about 20 years ago for some trips out west and hadn’t used them much in the last several years. “So winging was the perfect reason to dust them off,” he says. “Any set of skis or a snowboard will work for wing skiing.” Dan’s gear: Skis are Head C10s, and boots are Alpina
Harness: A windsurfing harness and line for the wing will allow you to cruise all afternoon without tiring. Dan’s waist harness: Dakine
Wing: “There is now a huge selection of wings online,” says Dan. According to Jean-Robert Wilhelmy, co-owner of windshop.ca, before you buy, you should think about whether you’ll be using it in winter and summer, how much wind your area gets, and whether the lake tends to have a lot of waves. Wings are measured by area in square meters in a range of sizes, such as 2 m² at the low end and 7 m² in the upper range. You also need to factor in your weight and experience; as they go up, so can the size of the wing. “To start, you need a beginner-intermediate wing that is quite powerful to get you going, such as the Freewing Go or the Takuma Concept,” says Wilhelmy. He recommends a 4.3 m² to 4.5 m² wing for lighter weight and 5.2 m² to 5.5 m² for medium to heavy. “A wing that’s too big gets very tiring and heavy on the arms, and if it’s too small, it won’t make you move.” He suggests taking lessons at the beginning and starting with a good wind to help you get going fast. Dan’s wing: Armstrong A-Wing 5.5 m²
This story was originally published as “The Wing King” in the Winter 2022 issue of Cottage Life.
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing,” said someone, at some point. Okay, sure. But there is definitely such thing as annoying weather. Thus, we present our list of annoying weather (in no particular order).
Rain-snow mix
Stop trying to be two things at the same time, Precipitation. Either be rain or be snow. You’re not brunch. At the very least, get a better portmanteau. The word “snain” is gross.
Warm wind
“There’s a warm wind blowing the stars around. And I’d really love to see you tonight.” No, England Dan & John Ford Coley. Warm wind doesn’t blow the stars around, it blows dirt around. Nobody wants to see anyone after a warm windstorm. They want to take a shower and pour a swimming pool’s-worth of Visine in their eyes.
Sunshowers
Sun? Combined with rain? What’s even happening right now? When it rains while the sun is shining, the weather is gaslighting you.
Freezing temperatures with no snow
It’s a rip-off! The trade-off, when it comes to cold temperatures, should be skiing, and snow forts, and pretty trees. That’s fair. With no snow cover, freezing temperatures just mean frozen ground. If that ground was once mud, it turns hard and lumpy and crater-filled. It makes you stumble, as if you’re Neil Armstrong doing a terrible job of walking on the moon.
Wind during umbrella weather
Unless your umbrella is made of lead, any amount of breeze—say, a butterfly flapping its wings within a nine-foot radius—will cause the umbrella to flip inside out, rendering it useless. Somebody please invent a better umbrella.
The weather wants to make you think that it’s 4 p.m. all day long. Woot-woot, only one hour until quittin’ time! But no. It’s 11 a.m., and you still have to get through five meetings. Psych!
Ice pellets combined with wind
It’s like someone took a bunch of tiny, irregularly shaped beads, put them in the freezer for three hours, took them out, and then started repeatedly whipping them directly into your face.
Cold with a windchill
Wind snatches away the precious cushion of heat that your body produces. The wind is stealing from you. Worse? Inanimate objects, such as sign posts and your car, get to blissfully remain at air temperature. Lucky.
Globalive has offered to buy Freedom Mobile for $3.75 billion.
Anthony Lacavera is the founder and chairman of Globalive, and he also founded Wind in 2008. Lacavera sold Wind to Shaw Communications in 2016 for $1.6 billion. Shaw rebranded the company to Freedom.
According to the Globe and Mail, the all-cash offer includes acquiring the company’s wireless licenses, customer accounts, cell towers, and stores.
The news comes as Rogers tries to gain regulatory approval to merge with Shaw. But to do that, the company may have to sell Freedom to create competition in Canada’s telecom market.
Rogers is currently meeting with prospective buyers, but it isn’t clear if Globalive was ever on that list. The Globe and Mail reports representatives presented Globalive’s offer to Rogers last week.
Lacavera has been vocal about his interest in buying back Freedom. In December, he made his interests clear, stating it would be good for the Canadian market if Freedom became independent.
The Globe and Mail reports Twin Point Capital and Baupost Group, two U.S.-based investment groups, will finance the transaction.
MobileSyrup has reached out to both Lacavera and Globalive for comment and will provide a response once available.
Rita Ora says it was an ”indescribable honor” performing for the Obamas.
The 24-year-old star took to the stage at the 33rd annual Christmas in Washington concert on Sunday (14.12.14) at the National Building Museum to sing Band Aid song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ in front of US President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and daughters, Malia, 16, and Sasha, 13.
Following the event, Rita took to her Instagram account to post several pictures including one taken from Michelle’s social networking site which sees her on-stage alongside the Obama family.
She captioned the message: ”Indescribable honour @michelleobama (sic)”
The blonde beauty also posted a picture of herself in a stunning black Dita Von Teese-inspired Ralph and Russo Couture dress ahead of her performance and admitted she was feeling very nervous.
She wrote on Instagram: ”Ok I can’t help it little sneak peak of my face before walking on the Obama stage. My legs were like jelly!! Thank you Audrey Hepburn for the inspiration!!#breakfastattiffs (sic)”
Rita was joined by the Washington Youth Choir for the rendition of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ and she later thanked Ralph and Russo Couture for dressing her and Bob Geldof for allowing her to play the Band Aid tune.
She wrote on Instagram: ”@ralphandrusso thank you for helping me create this moment. And Bob Geldof for letting me perform do they know it’s Christmas to spread the word over seas in front of such influential people. We can make a difference together (sic)”
But Rita wasn’t the only star to shine on the night as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson also took to the stage to perform Christmas song ‘Deck the Halls’ – a nod to his former wrestling career – and Christina Perri sang ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’.
Earth, Wind and Fire, Aloe Blacc, Hunter Hayes and Darius Rucker also sang at the spectacle, and all of the performers got together at the end of the concert – a benefit event for pediatric care provider the Children’s National Health System – to sing ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ and ‘The First Noel’.
