In this NCEP 09Z archived analysis I've painted in the precipitation. It shows a swath of freezing rain fed by deep convection ahead of the cold front.

Aside from still being grief stricken, there was an unusual silence through the house that would be broken every minute by the crackling, snapping and falling of ice laden tree branches. I was also forced to grab my camping gear to make breakfast.

In this NCEP archived analysis you can clearly see the ridge over far Northwestern Ontario (note the -45 in Manitoba) was really undercutting the convective moisture plume and subduing the warm front from actually getting into the Greater Toronto Area. This in effect meant that temperatures would not warm above freezing as forecast.

Without power my rain collector heater stopped functioning and I effectively temporarily stopped recording the rain.

My phone was the only device with power and it chirped with warnings messages.

After breakfast, Jen returned to bed to bury herself from the overwhelming grief. I pushed all my emotions aside and the journalist in me took over, I grabbed my gear and headed out. The world outside my door was a disaster.

The street I live on was coated with ice, but nothing had collapsed. One street over it was a disaster, a different world, the trees were tearing themselves apart and collapsing into the road.

Everyone seemed equally shocked and for most people their first reaction was to grab their phones and take photos.

This poor rotary clothes line in my neighbors yard was suddenly bearing a substantial amount of weight. It's possibly near its maximum load limit.

My neighbours Toyota Corolla was also a testament to the volume of water which had fallen and frozen.