a mild Toronto winter (appointed, buying, live in)

[kkgg7]

Is it just me or all Torontonians are loving this winter? The past December only saw one snow and few cold days. This January has been extraordinarily warm except one cold week after New Year's Day. According to the weather forecast, the rest January will be warm, with most days seeing max temperature above freezing.

Walking on the street downtown, ice is melting. If global warming has anything to do with it (which I highly doubt), I can't say I am not enjoying it.

[ThroatGuzzler]

This is great.. have not picked up the shovel this entire year.

[Acajack]

I would advise against tempting fate like this.

Usually when Canadians start getting blasé about winter, they get walloped soon after.

I'd save the mild winter rejoicing for late March at the earliest.

[rgpg_99]

I spent this winter on the other side of the lake (Irondequoit bay area) and I was disappointed at how short and mild this winter was. I moved to this area because I love snow and cold weather, and after all the comments I got about long, cold winters in the area, I have not been able to even go downhill sledding this winter.

I know, winter is not over yet. But I thought that, at this time of the year, we would not be having the mild temperatures we have had in the past weeks or so.

It goes without saying, everyone else around me could not be happier about the nice weather.

[ColdCanadian]

Yep, I hate winter but this one isn't too bad so far.

[lilred0005]

This is so ironic because this has been one of the coldest Winters in over 20 yrs for much of the U.S., your southern neighboors. I live in the warmest area(except for HI) in the country, South Florida, and we had almost a full wk of freezing temps, with a few days seeing windchills in the lower 20s. Half the trees and shrubs have died from the cold. Now we are back in the 80s again, the cold was nice while it lasted. Is Winter in Ontario usually harsh? How long is Winter? Which province has the worst Winter?

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by lilred0005

This is so ironic because this has been one of the coldest Winters in over 20 yrs for much of the U.S., your southern neighboors. I live in the warmest area(except for HI) in the country, South Florida, and we had almost a full wk of freezing temps, with a few days seeing windchills in the lower 20s. Half the trees and shrubs have died from the cold. Now we are back in the 80s again, the cold was nice while it lasted.

Is Winter in Ontario usually harsh?

How long is Winter?

Which province has the worst Winter?

Wow, that bad?

Normally winter in Ontario is annoying for commuters close to half the days in each month.
By this time in an average Toronto winter:
-we would have had 2-4 snowfalls of 4+ inches
-another 5-10 days with snow ranging from 0.5-3 inches
-and another 10-20 days with scattered light flakes.
Toronto actually gets less snow than most of southern Ontario, so for the worst parts of southern Ontario's snowbelt" you could probably double or triple the number of days with snowfall.

Winter is different in length every year.
Around Toronto an average winter seems to start around early-Dec and end in late-Mar.
Shortest winter in memory for me was 2006-2007; mid-Jan to late-Mar
Longest winter in memory for me maybe 2003-2004; mid-Nov to early-Apr

If by worst winter you mean ice, snow and raging winter storms, probably Newfoundland.
They often get blasted by storms packing 75-90 mph sustained-winds with enough snow to bury a house.
(a frozen cat. 1 or 2 hurricane, basically)

Worst province by lowest temps and windchill, probably Manitoba.
Saskatchewan is also extreme, but it's drier there so it might be less miserable.
Alberata about the same as Saskatchewan, only add in a few random days with powerful "chinook"
(translates into "snow-eater") Rocky Mountain warm fronts.

[kkgg7]

Originally Posted by lilred0005

This is so ironic because this has been one of the coldest Winters in over 20 yrs for much of the U.S., your southern neighboors. I live in the warmest area(except for HI) in the country, South Florida, and we had almost a full wk of freezing temps, with a few days seeing windchills in the lower 20s. Half the trees and shrubs have died from the cold. Now we are back in the 80s again, the cold was nice while it lasted. Is Winter in Ontario usually harsh? How long is Winter? Which province has the worst Winter?

Climate does seem to have become more irratic and unpredictable. While the traditionally frigid Great Lake area sees a wamer winter with less snow, much of the warmer part of world, West Europe, China, South US see unusually harsh weather. I noticed that at some point Orlando, Florida actually dipped below freezing point and people in Miami are buying earmuffs

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lilred0005

Half the trees and shrubs have died from the cold.

Yeah, Mother Nature has really been playing tricks with plant hardiness zones in southeastern North America this year.

I never lose any plants during winter and where I live it gets down to -25 C (-13 F) or lower a few times each winter at least.

Losing half (or anywhere close to half) of the trees and shrubs sounds absolutely insane to me.

[ColdCanadian]

What's most noticeable about this winter is it's been a lot drier than normal, imho.
Usually a milder winter is also very rainy at times, but I haven't seen much rain either.
As far as temps go, most of this winter has been at seasonal or colder than average usually, with the main exception starting mid-January.
Usually our coldest weather occurs mid-late January, but this current mild pattern looks like it might prevent Toronto from seeing -20 C (-5 F) this winter.

*According to gardening zone maps, Toronto's average coldest low of the year should be somewhere between -22 to -25 C. (-8 to -15 F)