Issue date: July 26, 2018

From Details magazine: These photos reveal the awesome power and beauty of nature.

Visitors to Canada could be excused for thinking that an intense interest in the weather – not hockey – is our national pastime. Too cold, too hot or just right – Canadians always have something to say on the subject. Yet nothing inspires meteorological murmurs more than some of the fleeting (but fabulous) phenomena that can appear when weather permits.

These stamps, which follow our first weather- themed issue from 2015, showcase five other weather wonders: steam fog, a moon halo, a waterspout, lenticular clouds and light pillars. Captured in Canada by amateur and professional photographers with endless patience, keen eyes and some luck too, these photos reveal the awesome power and beauty of nature.

Timmy Joe Elzinga, a resident of North Bay, Ontario, used his smartphone to shoot the otherworldly photo of light pillars – ethereal bands of light that appear when tiny ice crystals in the air reflect light from artificial sources. Awoken one cold January night by his young son, Timmy noticed the strange lights out the bathroom window. “Red, blue, green, yellow, purple and pink lights seemed to beam up in to the air,” Elzinga explains. “It almost looked like something out of Star Trek.”

Day of issue press release:
Weather Wonders stamps feature five stunning image
New stamps follow up on popular first instalment released in 2015

NORTH BAY, ON, July 26, 2018 /CNW/ – We talk about it in the elevators and hallways of our work. We monitor it morning, noon and night, dress up for it and plan our days around it. We obsess about it, and are captivated by its beauty and force. The weather – in all its wonder – takes centre stage again in Canada Post’s latest stamp issue.

Weather Wonders, Part 2 is a five-stamp issue that showcases some of Canada’s most awe-inspiring weather phenomena in photographs taken from across the country. This year’s release follows up on the wildly popular first weather wonders issue of 2015, which featured striking images of hoar frost, early-morning fog, a double rainbow, lightning and sun dogs.

This year’s collection features five new photos of unique and distinctly beautiful weather events:

• Mark Newman’s photograph of a thick layer of steam fog over an unidentified British Columbia lake was taken just as an icy wind caused humid air to condense over the warmer surface. The image beautifully captures a moody, almost ghostly, scene.
• Garry M. Cass photographed a magnificent, if not menacing, waterspout over Lake Ontario near Toronto. These swirling funnels of water can be just as dangerous as land-based twisters.
• Marilyn Dunstan’s bucolic photo of lenticular clouds – some call them UFO clouds because of their disc-like shape – was taken in Jasper National Park in Alberta.
• Timmy Joe Elzinga snapped spectacular light pillars reflecting the city lights of North Bay, Ontario. These can appear when ice crystals in the air reflect light drawn from artificial sources.
• David McColm’s photograph forever freezes a moon halo in Whistler, B.C. The weather phenomenon is the result of airborne ice crystals refracting the moonlight on a chilly night.

Elzinga recalls first seeing “dancing beams of light” in the winter sky after waking to tend to a crying child. It was “like something out of Star Trek,” prompting him to open his bathroom window, remove the screen and take “as many pictures as possible.” When posted online, the images went viral, drawing worldwide attention.

Newman’s steam fog shot adorns the cover of the booklet of 10 stamps. The souvenir sheet and Official First Day Cover include all five weather-themed stamps designed by Parcel Design of Toronto.