Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
having tightly clustered smaller buildings to retain warmth and break the effect of
wind, as well as ensuring that designs create positive micro-climates around these
structures to encourage people to go outdoors.
Another problem comes from
isolation
effects. The density of population is far
lower in northern latitudes, especially those that have limited agricultural activ-
ity, namely places beyond 56ﾰN in the Prairie provinces of Canada, or 62ﾰN in
Northern Europe. The northern settlements that exist are mainly those of traditional
peoples, or the relatively new mining, forestry, fishing, tourist or administrative
centres, which have helped push the frontier of settlements further north in the last
century. Although there are more places in the north than in the past, most are at
considerable distances from one another, which means that many people in northern
settlements often suffer from isolation, due to a lack of contact with other people, a
problem exacerbated by the expense of travel to other places.
Focus on the winter conditions alone should not disguise the related problems
that occur in the
'transitional periods'
to and from winter. For example, the initial
effects of winter may be transitory, in the sense that the onset of winter may be de-
layed by reducing the initial impact of the cold and snow through sensitive environ-
mental designs and modifying the behaviour of the people in settlements. But many
negative effects in these periods also occur, such as freezing drizzle, which produce
ice accumulations on trees, roads, buildings and especially power lines, which are
hard to remove and often cause them to break. Although ice-storms are common
in eastern Canada they are usually of short duration, and since the larger cities
have equipment to deal with the ice their effect is limited. But in January 1998 the
area from eastern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick to Nova Scotia and the United
States border experienced a massive storm with ice accumulations often greater
than 4-5 cm on exposed surfaces, such as the ground, trees and hydro lines, for six
days. This was a result of moist air moving from the south being trapped over a very
cold surface layer, which meant that as the storm progressed, the rain from the moist
air was super-cooled as it passed through the cold layer and froze on all exposed
surfaces. Electricity was unavailable for over 4 million people initially; over 1,000
steel electricity pylons collapsed, millions of trees were felled, roads were impass-
able due to ice and tree blockages for days. Insurance claims of over c$ 1.5 billion
were recorded, but additional costs to government and industries, especially the
dairy and maple tree industries, probably created a bill of around c$ 5 Billion, al-
though estimates vary (Munroe
2012
). The storm was seen by Environment Canada
as affecting the most people ever in Canadian history, although only 28 people died,
with the most severe effects being felt in the large metropolitan area of Montreal.
Eventually 15,000 military personnel were brought in to help clear the roads, trees
and restore power. This provides another example of the effect that a severe natural
hazard can have on urban areas, to complement those described in the Resilient Cit-
ies discussion (Chap. 7) and shows the havoc that can be produced by such a large
winter storm. More generally in hilly or mountainous areas near towns, both the
snow accumulation, or freeze-thaw effects, often lead to avalanches of snow or rock
falls respectively, problems that may increase as climate warms.
