3 tweets that sparked Ottawa news coverage in 2016

News stories can start with just one tweet, including those at the centre of major stories.

Here at CBC Ottawa, we looked back through 2016 to find three tweets that helped, or highlighted our news coverage.

Do you remember these?

Skiing to work in a snowstorm

Alison Smedley, an employee at the Ottawa Public Library, was creative in her trek to work through a February storm.

Jackpine, a business on Somerset Street West, captured her using cross-country skis to manoeuvre the snowy sidewalks. It's worth noting that Smedley is related to Olympic kayakers, Cameron and Liam Smedley.

If you want to relive that snowy winter day, here are a bunch of photos.

Massive sinkhole forms on Rideau Street

Ottawa has seen a few sinkholes in the past few years, but nothing like this.

We didn't quite know the severity of the road collapse until the video was posted by Jeff Elliott.

The sinkhole later swallowed a van and closed the road for several weeks.

Remember that June day right here.

'Racist' costume party near Queen's University

Toronto comedian Celeste Yim tweeted photos of several groups of people dressed in costumes representing different cultures and ethnic groups.

Soon after, Queen's University and its student association began to investigate the costume party, which happened off-campus.

The story became national thanks in large part to Celeste's tweets.

Here was our story.