Weather In Ottawa

Winterlude ( Bal de neige in French) is an annual festival in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec that celebrates winter.

Winterlude is run by Canada's National Capital Commission and was started in 1979. The event is one of Ottawa's most important tourist draws, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. In 2007, it set a new attendance record of an estimated 1.6 million visits to one of the four Winterlude sites .

Activities

Winterlude is a very large festival of outdoor activities including public skating and skating displays, snow and ice sculpture competitions, musical concerts at the Winterlude Snowbowl, children's play areas, an 'ice lounge', bed and waiter races and numerous off-site events.

Winterlude is most famous for the Rideau Canal, which is cleared for ice skating displays and musical concerts. The Canal is claimed to be the world's largest skating rink — since the longest is now located in Winnipeg.

Other primary sites include Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau which is turned into a massive snow park with slides and structures, events and activities for children and the snow sculpture competition. In recent years, the snow sculpture competition has been between teams from the different provinces and territories. In the past, there were competitions between local teams.

Confederation Park is the site for the ice sculpture competition, the ice lounge and musical concerts. Dow's Lake has a large skating area and hosts the various bed and waiter races.

Related activities include special exhibits at the Ottawa museums, special events at the Byward Market and a 'loppet' type race is held in Gatineau Park.

Foods

The traditional food for Winterlude is called the Beaver Tail , a fried dough type pastry. It is sold from several stands at Winterlude event sites and along the Canal. Other food-related activities include a Chili Cook-Off held at the Byward Market and several restaurants act as 'official restaurants,' usually serving special Winterlude foods and drinks.

Duration

The event lasts for three weekends, usually the first three weekends in February. Very few events take place from Monday to Thursday in between weekends 1 and 2, and weekends 2 and 3. This means that the skating rink is much less crowded and that the ice stays in a near pristine condition for much of the day, with only a thousand or so skaters sharing it instead of the greater numbers during the weekend. The skate changing shacks and food catering kiosks scattered along the length of the skateway, at the same level as the ice, are open day long during the week.

Weather

The weather in Ottawa is notoriously unpredictable, and Winterlude often is hampered by mild weather. Mild weather is the bane of the Canal, as proper ice conditions require -10 degrees Celsius for proper freezing. The length of the skating season, (which extends longer than the Winterlude weekends) is therefore unpredictable. However, most events are usually not affected other than premature melting of ice and snow sculptures. The length to which the canal is open for skating varies greatly, in the 2001-2002 season there was a record low 34 days open. The very next season, 2002-2003, the canal was open for a near high-record of 72 days.

References

1. ^ CFRA News
2. ^ Rogers, Dave (2008-01-13). "Winnipeg hopes to edge Ottawa for longest skating rink". Ottawa Citizen (canada.com) . http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=4922efcd-a889-4ae8-a0fd-ddc51026eb93&k=24766 . Retrieved 2008-02-11 .  
3. ^ In the past snow sculptures have been located on Dows Lake, Major's Hill Park, and in front of the new City Hall.
4. ^ Canal Season

Ottawa Start | Weather Guide

Ottawa residents love to talk about the weather. Along with hockey and gas prices, it may be our favourite topic. Ottawa tends to be cold in the winter, and hot in the ...

...

Weather Forecast: Ottawa, Ontario - The Weather Network

Get the most updated weather conditions and forecasts for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

...

Weather - Ottawa Citizen

Hit-and-run kills motorcyclist, 44; Ashton teen dies in crash; From Climategate to Copenhagen; Heidi's Hope; Tories confirm Public Works probe; Gaga for Lady Gaga

...

Ottawa Weather | Ottawa Sun

This evening Tonight Monday morning Monday afternoon; Forecast: Mixed precip. Mixed precip. Isolated flurries: Cloudy with sunny breaks: Temperature: 2 °C: 2 °C

...

Ottawa Weather - Ottawa Five Day Weather Forecast and Average ...

Looking for the five day Ottawa weather forecast? Do you want to know the average temperatures for the Ottawa area year round? We have listed the current 5 day Ottawa weather ...

...

Ottawa Weather -- Complete weather forecasts and conditions for Canada ...

One of Canada’s top locations for weather information. Get the latest forecasts, reports and weather maps from Yahoo! Canada Weather

...

Ottawa Weather Forecast and Conditions Canada

Ottawa weather forecast and weather conditions for . Today's Ottawa Ontario weather plus a 36 hour forecast and Doppler radar from weather.com.

...

Ottawa - Ontario Weather current conditions, forecast, satellite Map ...

Yahoo! weather: Ottawa - Ontario Weather Forecast, Statistics, High and Low temperatures, Satellite maps, News, Video and more.

...

City of Ottawa - Weather

Weather. The weather in Ottawa changes with each season. Temperatures range from very hot in the summer to very cold in the winter. Average monthly temperatures

...

City of Ottawa - Ottawa Weather

Ottawa’s weather has four distinct seasons. The summers are hot and humid. The winters are cold and snowy. Spring temperatures are mild, but there is lots of rain.

...