Breaking the cold record

So, it’s official. February 2015 was not only record-breakingly cold… it was the coldest month in Toronto in recorded history. I feel like we all deserve T-shirts to commemorate this, though it hardly seems worth celebrating. A few weekends ago it was actually minus 40, that strange zone where both Fahrenheit and Celsius will say the same thing, and you could actually watch the lake effect from my apartment.

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That stuff that looks like steam rising upwards? That’s snow, coming downwards over Rochester. Crazy, right?

But of course, if you are a photographer then this is a completely different deal. Last weekend Tito and I drove out to Niagara Falls in the morning (the emptiest I’ve ever seen it) and shot the incredible ice and snow formations that now lie at the bottom of the the waterfall with the highest flow rate in the world. Because, despite that volume, it was frozen.

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Both sides looked extraordinary, but I especially enjoyed the American side which had these giant ice boulders at the bottom. I also love that sculpted ice structure at the bottom of the horseshoe falls, looks like another world!

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8 responses to “Breaking the cold record”

  1. Aims Avatar
    Aims

    -40C – that’s something we are very familiar with out here in Alberta Shireen. It just seems to us to be a natural part of winter (and I hate it!)

    However – funnily enough – we are expecting double digits above the 0 mark for the next 4 days. Anything above 0C here during the winter is like a summer holiday!

    Loved your pic of the snow happening over Rochester btw.

    Your view from your place is a lot like what we see out here. We can see for miles and miles – wide open expanses of prairie and sometimes the right conditions will allow you to see the lights of Calgary from Olds – that’s 94.7 Km! amazing!!

  2. desperateramblings Avatar

    Utterly amazing shots, thanks. I cannot even imagine that sort of cold yet alone how you would live in it. Hope it soon gets back to more like normal for you all. By the way, I think you would want a little more than commemorative t shirt! More like an arctic fleece maybe :) ?

  3. gladeridercrafts Avatar

    Hoodies might be a better bet to commemorate that!

    1. The Blue Brick Avatar

      Fleece wraps perhaps?

  4. Crafty Effie Avatar

    Niagara Falls is just so beautiful in the winter! Definitely a favorite of mine.

  5. Joanna Farrer Avatar
    Joanna Farrer

    Thought you’d find this interesting. Shireen Nadir is the woman from Toronto that I’ve mentioned, who knits, designs, weaves, makes jewellery and takes amazing photos. The Blue Brick is her website. Jo

  6. rkb665 Avatar
    rkb665

    I think maybe we would get more use out of fleece tops to celebrate this winter! Lovely images. Rebecca

  7. Shipwrecked in the Deep Freeze | The Blue Brick | Photography and Handcrafts by Shireen Nadir Avatar

    […] weekend, on our way home from the frozen Niagara Falls shoot, Tito and I decided to make one more stop before Toronto, and pulled off at the Jordan […]

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