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Ottawa Webcam – See Canada’s Capital Skyline
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About this webcam
The Ottawa Webcam looks across a band of mature tree canopy toward the high-rise cluster around Carling Avenue and Preston Street, at the southern edge of the city’s Little Italy. Claridge Icon anchors the right of the frame, a slim 45-storey tower that has been the tallest building in Canada’s capital since it topped out in 2019. Construction cranes stand over the rooftops on either side of it, and they are not passing scenery. Close to a dozen towers are proposed, approved or already rising in this one neighborhood, so the outline on screen keeps shifting from one year to the next. A raised roadway deck crosses the middle distance below the towers, and the treetops in front change color with the season.
About Ottawa
Canada’s capital sits on the south bank of the Ottawa River, in southeastern Ontario, where both the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal reach the larger river. The 2021 census recorded 1,017,449 residents, making it the fourth-largest city in Canada and the second-largest in Ontario. Gatineau, Quebec, lies directly across the water. The settlement began in 1826 as Bytown, named for Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers, and took the name Ottawa along with city status in 1855. That name traces back through the river to the Algonquin word adawe, meaning to trade.
The neighborhood filling the middle of the frame is Little Italy, in Centretown West, settled from around 1900 by Italian immigrants. Preston Street is its commercial spine and carries the second name Corso Italia, while Gladstone Avenue is also called Via Marconi. St. Anthony of Padua Church, founded in 1913 at Booth Street and Gladstone Avenue, tied the community to this ground early, and Italian Week has run every June since 1975. Chinatown sits next door, centered on Somerset Street.
The tower on the right is Claridge Icon, at Preston and Carling. It runs to 45 storeys and 143 meters (469 feet), holds 320 units, and was designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects for Claridge Homes, opening in 2022. Nothing taller had been built in Ottawa since 1971, or anywhere in the Ottawa and Gatineau region since 1978. The cranes around it are the second act: a community design plan calling for high density near Dow’s Lake station, paired with an O-Train Trillium Line upgrade to eight-minute headways, has drawn close to a dozen projects to this corner. Three of the approved buildings would take the top three places on the city’s list of tallest structures.
Weather and Climate in Ottawa
Winter does the most to change what this camera shows. The city has a warm-summer humid continental climate with four distinct seasons, and January is the coldest month, averaging a minimum of minus 14.3 C (6 F). Most days through December, January and February stay below freezing. Around 232 centimeters (91 inches) of snow falls in an average year, mostly between December and March, which leaves the flat rooftops white and strips the foreground canopy to bare branches. Roughly 16 nights a year drop below minus 20 C (minus 4 F), and a reading under minus 30 C (minus 22 F) turns up about once every two years.
Summers run warm and humid. July is the hottest month, averaging a maximum of 27 C (81 F), and about 15 days a year climb past 30 C (86 F). Thunderstorms arrive on roughly 23 days annually, most of them in summer. Spring and autumn swing hard in both directions: May nights can still fall below freezing, September sometimes passes 30 C, and November can reach minus 10 C (14 F). Fog shows up on about 23 days a year in any season, and the city averages 2,080 hours of sunshine annually, 45 percent of the possible total, so an overcast frame is common.
Things to Do Near Ottawa
Preston Street runs north from Carling Avenue through the heart of Little Italy, lined with the Italian restaurants and cafes that give the strip its Corso Italia name. Just south of Carling sits Dow’s Lake, a man-made widening of the Rideau Canal created when an earthen dam went in along its north shore. The Dows Lake Pavilion stands on the western shore, the Dominion Arboretum lies to the west at the edge of the Central Experimental Farm, and Carleton University occupies the lake’s southern end. Hog’s Back Falls is about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) further south.
The Rideau Canal is the thread connecting most of the rest. It opened in 1832, runs 202 kilometers (126 miles), and steps down through 47 locks between the Ottawa River near Parliament Hill and the St. Lawrence at Kingston on Lake Ontario. Parliament Hill, the National Gallery of Canada and the National Arts Centre all sit a few kilometers northeast of the camera’s view, in a city that draws more than 11 million visitors a year.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ottawa located?
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, in southeastern Ontario, on the south bank of the Ottawa River where the Rideau River and the Rideau Canal join it. Gatineau, Quebec, lies directly across the river.
What can you see on the Ottawa Webcam?
The camera looks over tree canopy toward the towers around Carling Avenue and Preston Street, on the southern edge of Little Italy. Claridge Icon stands on the right of the frame, construction cranes work on either side of it, and a raised roadway deck crosses the middle distance.
What is the weather like in Ottawa?
The climate is warm-summer humid continental with four clear seasons. January averages a minimum of minus 14.3 C (6 F) and July a maximum of 27 C (81 F). About 232 centimeters (91 inches) of snow falls each year.
What is the tallest building in Ottawa?
Claridge Icon, at Preston Street and Carling Avenue, reaches 45 storeys and 143 meters (469 feet). It topped out in 2019 and opened in 2022, and nothing taller has been built in the city since 1971.
Why are there construction cranes in the Ottawa Webcam view?
Little Italy is in the middle of a high-rise building boom. A community design plan calling for high density near Dow’s Lake station, together with an O-Train Trillium Line upgrade to eight-minute headways, has drawn close to a dozen tower projects to the area. Three of the approved buildings would rank as the three tallest in Ottawa.
What neighborhood does the Ottawa camera show?
Little Italy, in Centretown West, the center of the city’s Italian community since about 1900. Preston Street is its main commercial street and also carries the name Corso Italia.
How much snow does Ottawa get?
Around 232 centimeters (91 inches) in an average year, falling mainly between December and March. Snow can also arrive in April or October, though it rarely builds up in any quantity that late or early.
Source: DestC