StampNews.com got to know with a little help from Canada’s privately owned Weather Network, Canada Post unveiled a set of new stamps and a souvenir sheet showcasing one of that nation’s most popular topics in every season: the weather. The issue consists of five items that was put on sale on the 18th of June.
This set of stamps shows Canadian weather phenomena in striking splendor. From brilliant flashes of lightning to the sudden beauty of a double rainbow, the stamps photographically depict the remarkable variety of Canadian weather in photographs from every corner of the second-largest nation on Earth.
Daryl Benson snapped hoarfrost (frozen dew or water vapor) covering a tree near Beaumont, Alberta.
Geoff Whiteway focused on hazy, early morning fog at Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site in Newfoundland, where fog is a way of life for many islanders. With 124 foggy days each year, St. John’s, Newfoundland, is the foggiest provincial capital in Canada.
In Saint-Gedeon, Quebec, Mike Grandmaison chased a rain shower to shoot a fabulous double rainbow, while Dave Reede captured dazzling flashes of lightning near Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Some 1,250 miles northeast of there, at Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, Frank Reardon captured seldom-seen “sun dogs” ‒ bright spots on either side of the sun from a halo created by ice crystals in the air. He posted his photo on the Weather Network, where Canada Post found it.
Each “Weather Wonder” was carefully chosen with expert assistance from Environment Canada’s Senior Climatologist David Phillips, who combines keen professional insight with day-to-day fascination.
“I marvel at the beauty ‒ and violence ‒ of weather in Canada”, says Phillips, “which these stamps spectacularly depict”.
Collectors interested in climate should visit the exceptional Weather and Climate Philately website maintained by Don Hillger, a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., and retired Canadian meteorologist Garry Toth.