Ontario: Niagara Falls & Toronto

Niagara Falls is truely spectacular. As expected the Maid of the mist wasn't operating due to the general frozen-ness of February, however winter was still an excellent time to visit. There were severe windchill warnings issued for upper-state New York, as well as Ontario throughout my visit, so the first of my two days ended up being particularly unforgiving, but the second, unfortunately shorter day didn't bring with it as much wind so I was able to stay outside for longer periods and enjoy far greater visibility. During much of the afternoon on the first day the falls nearly disappeared in fog, mist and the intense snow-fall, but it was also a good time to walk up up-river through the snow to the hydro-electric power plant, and get lost in the frozen expanse along the way. The harsh wind demolished much of the ice and snow nestled on the otherwise bare trees, so the short walk often turned to chaos with the trees howling and clashing like thousands of differently tuned wooden windchimes as the ice and other debris collided. I ended up with a completely solidified beard, eyebrows and moustache and no feeling in much of my body—despite my extensive layers—and although only escaping the nearby horde of visitors a short distance, I could have believed I was on one of Jupiter's moons.

I initially spent time by the American falls, which appeared almost completely frozen from across the river, and I was a bit puzzled at the lack of familiarity, but through the mist a few hundred metres away was the Canadian Horseshoe falls, which is in a league of it's own. I was accustomed to seeing photos of the falls from beneath by boat, so was amazed when I got to walk out to the point where the falls drop off just metres away, and I could watch the chunks of ice hurtle down into the foggy abyss below. It was certainly worth braving the cold. There was also a small collection of tunnels that open up to lookouts beneath the falls, which had me giddy walking out from the old-industrial looking concrete hallways, after descending by elevator, into the ferocious power provided by mother nature and gravity.

The city of Niagara, Ontario, itself was a peculiar little place. It seemed greatly like a time capsule of a by-gone era, and at times had an eery desolate feeling — the frozen winter months are definitely the off-season. There always seems to be Frank Sinatra, or some 80's soul ballad playing from mega-phone looking speakers fixed to street lamps, and everywhere seemed to have massive Las Vegas style neon-signs, with most places boarded up or closed. There were dozens of pawn shops, tattoo parlours, cash for gold/cash for gift certificate stores, wig shops, loan sharks, 99c stores, cheap tourist knick-knack shops, Mom & Pop style classic Americana diners, all-you-can eat and all-day breakfast joints, motels galore with deals associated with the casino, a number of Dennys, Hooters with wings for 79c... not to mention the rock & roll museum, wax figure museum, Ripleys Believe it or not attraction and Ferris wheel. Despite my efforts and know-how, I was unable to locate Elvis, but I'm sure he is living out his days here in the Great White North.

Regarding Toronto, unfortunately I haven't too much to comment — I certainly didn't do the city justice this visit. I arrived on the couple coldest days of the year, during the coldest February on record, with windchill of -40°C so I was not a fan of staying outside for very long. I spent a lot of time catching up on Netflix (thanks Meisha), playing Zelda (thanks Chase), and finishing a book or two on my Kindle (thanks me). However when I did make it outside, I saw a number of different news crews try to sequester people until they spouted the catchy one-liner about the weather their producers were looking for... (much to the condescending laughter from the northern Canadian provinces watching the news segment later on I'm sure). I made a decent trek out to the CN tower, and downtown areas, but don't have very many photos to show for it. My camera suffered greatly from the cold and instead of 1/2000 second shutter speeds it behaved like 1/20, giving very different, blurry photos. And my wish to photograph some of the nightlife and scenery was definitely not one I was prepared to undertake. Next time I'll come in summer!

A prolonged period of severely cold wind chills continues.

Bitterly cold arctic air combined with gusty north winds is resulting in extreme wind chill values of minus 30 to minus 35. The winds will remain in the 20 to 50 km/h range through the evening. Winds east of a line from Barrie to Hamilton will continue overnight in the 20 to 40 km/h range giving wind chill values of minus 35 to 40 into Monday morning.

People outdoors should exercise extreme caution in this hazardous situation. Frostbite on exposed skin may occur in just a few minutes.

Extreme cold warnings are issued when very cold temperatures or wind chill creates an elevated risk to health such as frost bite and hypothermia.