What is it with those Canadians? We in the US have normal weather systems, with irregular shapes and often sprawling over hundreds of miles. But the Canadians, so much less extreme in all ways, have tidy, circular, self-contained, and relatively small rain storms, arrayed like a string of pearls over their Great Plains region (which, I have been informed, is known locally not as plains but "prairie"). If you don't believe me, just check out this afternoon's radar images, shown on a Google Earth display via the wonderful real-time weather overlay. Click for larger, and to really see the effect.
![CanadaWx2.png]()
In fairness, it's really the western Canadians who behave in this odd way. The people in Ontario are at the moment sharing a "normal" storm with their neighbors from Michigan to upstate New York. But what's the matter with Manitoba and Saskatchewan?
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Before you click the "send 'gotcha' note to author" button, I should say that I do in fact know the reason for the odd Canadian weather patterns. As a hint, anyone who has ever been involved in aviation knows the reason too -- along with people in a number of other fields. I'll leave it as an open learning opportunity for all others. What is the internet if not an educational tool? Further clues in this closer-up shot of the plains provinces. Later I'll provide a NavCanada link that explains just what's going on.
![CanadaWx3.png]()
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Manitoba - Climate change - Saskatchewan - Canada - Google Earth
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In fairness, it's really the western Canadians who behave in this odd way. The people in Ontario are at the moment sharing a "normal" storm with their neighbors from Michigan to upstate New York. But what's the matter with Manitoba and Saskatchewan?
____
Before you click the "send 'gotcha' note to author" button, I should say that I do in fact know the reason for the odd Canadian weather patterns. As a hint, anyone who has ever been involved in aviation knows the reason too -- along with people in a number of other fields. I'll leave it as an open learning opportunity for all others. What is the internet if not an educational tool? Further clues in this closer-up shot of the plains provinces. Later I'll provide a NavCanada link that explains just what's going on.
