"Forces of Nature" - New Glacier Painting by Tatiana Iliina

Canadian artist Tatiana Iliina has completed another abstract glacier painting. This one is entitled "Forces of Nature" and acknowledges the unfathomable powers that have resulted in the shrinking or disappearance of most of the glaciers on the planet.

What a winter it was been in Canada!

Let's go back and review the norm and the actual for each of the past few months:

October norm: trick-or-treating with winter coats over costumes in hard frozen cold, or icy drizzle or snow

October '09: trick-or-treating was in light jackets, or just the costumes

November norm: several snowfalls, weeks of -10 C weather or colder.

November '09: no snow, green grass, flowers in the garden, felt like early October weather

December norm: lots of wet snow, occasional warm periods, some very cold stretches

December '09: only slightly below freezing most of the time, with a fair bit of snow

January norm: deep freeze, tons of snow

January 2010: variable weather some snow, no very cold weather at all

February norm: deep freeze, lots of snow, possible brief thaw

February 2010: + temps most of the month, a scattering of snow, milder than March should be

March norm: usually ranges from extreme cold to near freezing, plenty of snow

March 2010: winter is finished - what winter?

Of course Canada is a huge country. This year there was some colder weather out west in Edmonton and Saskatoon but it has been warm right across the country since February.

Environment Canada has confirmed that this has been the warmest winter on record.

2009 was also the warmest winter on record in Australia.