Ottawa is considerably colder than Stratford in winter, and just as hot in summer. Spectacular thunderstorms are a feature of summer in Ottawa, but very rare at other times of the year. The “lake effect” gives this area uniquely dramatic weather; we get line squalls here that would be respectable in the North Atlantic.

I’ll miss Stratford’s lake-effect storms about as much as I miss the nor'easters of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Great fodder for anecdotes, but a damnable nuisance when you have somewhere to go and limited time to get there.