Winter in Toronto
 

http://www.torontosun.com/comment/20...84071-sun.html

Stop whining T.O., the real winter is north of the city
By GLEN STONE, GUEST COLUMNIST

Last Updated: 17th December 2009, 8:41am

With deepest apologies to Gordon Lightfoot ...

The legend lives on from the 401 on down

Of how bad winters are in Toronter.

Those with the bread fly to Florida instead

And those who can't go surely wanter!

Now that winter has finally arrived and everyone has upped their weather complaint mode from "whinge" to "whine," it's time to put things in perspective.

First, Torontonians should know that winter is measurably worse in the 905 regions just north of Hogtown. Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson confirms the long-held and cherished 905 brag that winter hits harder as soon as you leave the city limits.

"We think of the east-west thoroughfares -- Steeles Avenue, Highway 7 and Highway 9 -- as demarcation points," says Coulson, "North of each of these lines you will find winter temperatures are more likely to reach zero or below. So, when we have mixed storms, as we have had in the GTA recently, with temperatures on the cusp of freezing, you will see more snow in these areas."

Environment Canada's stats back up the legend. A place like Thornhill averages 24 cm more snow per year than at Pearson Airport. It snows more often (57 days per year, compared to 54) and the stuff stays on the ground longer and higher (3 cm average depth versus 2 cm) than in Toronto. It's a similar story across Vaughan and Markham, with ever more dramatic differences as you move north.

Does anyone know where the point of life goes

When daylight is only six hours?

At 4:30 pm when the Sun's getting dim,

It's hard to remember spring's flowers.

Coulson says there are two sets of factors at work. First, a big city like Toronto is a heat sink -- the asphalt and steel absorb heat during the day and release it slowly at night, moderating the temperatures, and all of the people, cars and buildings give off waste heat 24/7, keeping the mercury higher.

LAKE EFFECT

The second factor is lake effect. Lake Ontario is also a heat sink that takes time to freeze over each year and keeps the surrounding land a touch warmer in winter. Go north and west of the city and you find another kind of lake effect at work -- the storms that blow in off Georgian Bay and Lake Huron that wallop the 905 much more often than they reach Toronto.

Yes, Lake Ontario creates some of those storms too. That's why you'll find an average 15 extra centimetres of snow downtown each year, compared to the Airport.

But there is no doubt about it, agrees Coulson, winter is worse in 905 North.

Of course, tell that to people in cottage country, who get more than three times the average snow of the GTA. Talk to Ottawa's long-suffering shovellers, dealing with double our snowfall and January temperatures a bone-chilling four degrees colder.

And, as Coulson points out, our winters are nothing compared to what people endure on the Prairies, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain to freeze your nose off, or in Newfoundland, where the severe storms dump four-and-a-half metres of white stuff every year.

We could be in Fort Reliance, NWT, enjoying the average daily high of -23 in January, or up in Alert, Nunavut, wondering if we'll beat the record low of -53 this year.

CAN'T COMPLAIN

Now, that is what you call winter. Whichever side of Steeles Avenue you live on, we've got nothing to complain about compared to most of the nation.

Your coat's ruined with salt, both your kids have the flu,

Their boots have big holes and take water,

And all that remains is the waiting in vain

For the first warm spring day in Toronter!

-- Stone lives in Thornhill and at www.GhostWriterInTheSky.ca

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

That's nothing. I'm having to struggle through a sunny 70 degrees (F) day here in Arizona. It's cold.

Just jokin'. Seriously, how do you folks live in such weather ?

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

I just check the current conditions and forecasts for Yellowknife... then I feel a whole lot warmer!!! It sort of keeps things in perspective.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

my sis in sarasota was cold today - 70F..sad..so sad.

28 years in toronto and dealing with the cold has been erased by 18 years in florida..
(It is 19F here in Toronto right now) (-9F in Yellowknife)
last week alberta was running to record temps of minus 49 C which is -56F..
now THAT is cold. really cold.
Yesterday it was 46F.

Last week just north of Toronto some towns got over 43 feet of snow in just over 5 hours.

Canadians are sometimes defined and define themselves by the vastness of the country, the geography, weather, hockey, music, and laughter. The music and laughter get us through the other three with some good old fashioned bitching thrown in the mix.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Yesterday, here in Northern Maine, with the wind chill factor, it was -24F. We have about a foot of snow, which the brutal wind was whipping about. It actually hurt the skin on my face when I went out to see if the car would start (luckily it did). I drove to the grocery store and had to put the old Kia in 4WD, because the roads were slippery. . Winter's here. Can't wait until spring... about 4 months from now.

Cathy

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

we have 300K on both cars so have been looking at new and used (i don't enjoy the selection process)...anyhow, have learned much and checked out and test driven and researched (so many contradictions) many but only heard about Kia recently...so thanks for the implied endorsement (ie. it starts in cold and made it to 'old' status)

i started out trying to support the NA manufacturers, but many turn offs encountered...anyhow, off topic as usual

yes, it is cool out there but not as snowy as an hour north or chilly as 20 hours east...by Canuck standards, the GTA climate is Floridian...there's a golf course 20 minutes away that's still open... but decent gloves and a flask of dark rum is a prereq

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Last Wednesday, Melbourne's temperature reached 39.2degC (103degF). Our state Victoria is expecting another hot, dry summer with the chance of dangerous bushfires like the ones that killed nearly 200 people last February.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Well I'm having a giggle because my husband and our daughter left this morning for South Carolina (her new home is in Charleston) and as of an hour ago they were in Roanoke VA driving through a HUGE snowstorm, expecting 8-24 inches by tomorrow. Here in central NY it's cold (19 F) but dry. She was SO looking forward to a warmer clime, hee hee. Meanwhile Charleston has been under a flood advisory for weeks, with drier weather coming this weekend.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

i just let some water out, drain the lines, put plugs int he jets and fill it back up to the skimmer. the water helps with the frost heaving and possibly causing the pool walls to shift or cave in..i put a winter cover on with vinyl bags filled with water around the perimeter and that's it till next spring.
next spring I'll be ordering a new liner..

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Alas,

Much as I hate to report it . . .

Yesterday was 75F in Balboa, CA.

Uniform of the Day: Cutoffs, T-Shirt, and barefoot

Went for a sundown swim - which *was* quite cold.

But, last I heard, The Pacific Ocean hasn't frozen over yet

Looks like I winged outta Toronto just in time

Still - wouldn't have minded a bit stayin' on!

Blessed Christmas Y'all,

Rez

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

JJ - ATTN: Kia endorsement

I have two - one sedan, one mini van
daughter 2 - both mini vans
daughter's mother in law - one
daughter's grandmother - one
son - one
Not a complaint yet. Even my mechanic said he was happy we got Kia's. He is happy he doesn't have to work on my Probe anymore (I'm not). Low maintenance and pretty good gas mileage, depending on what you get. My mini van can transport 16 dogs and 2 people in comfort. Nikki uses hers as a soccer mom car, since both boys are playing soccer these days.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

My husband and daughter made it to Charleston SC around 2 this afternoon having survived the trip from hell, as my husband put it. They were on I-81 south and I-77 south and both places were AWFUL for trying to drive; both roads were closed just after my family made it through. They went at one-tenth of a mile per hour in some places, no hotel room to be found anywhere (they slept in the car, fortunately had pillows and a sleeping bag) and crawled past overturned tractor trailers and hundreds of cars in ditches or stuck in snow banks. They do have plows in Virginia and North Carolina but my daughter says "they don't know HOW to plow!" The local papers were calling it a storm of epic proportions; further north today DC was getting in one day what they normally get in a whole season.

In the end, they arrived in one piece - which is more than some folks did. Now I can relax. Rich flies home on the 27th. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

The snow hasn't made it to CT just yet. But I've been hearing from some folks travelling down South like your husband and daughter Annie -how treacherous, so glad they made it safely.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

glad to hear they made it safely..what a trip!
We've had a lovely day here in Toronto - cold but no wind or snow and none in the forecast for the next few days.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Here in central Virginia (Roanoke/Lynchburg) we have between 12 and 18 inches on the ground! Need to crank up "Song for a Winter's Night". My Golden Retrievers have to hop around because the snow is up to their bellies.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Either that or "10 Degrees And Getting Colder" :

'So he sat down by her table and they talked about the weather'

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

It's here, 1" in 15mins :(. Will be a good workout going to the box to fetch the Sunday paper. And of course, digging out later on.

I just missed hearing "Song For A Winter's Night" on the radio when I was at a store this morning. While chatting @music with the store owner-she was still trying to remember where she had seen Gordon perform in 1974/75 (she 1st told me this 2 years ago). Then I ran home to grab some XMas CD's for her....when I came back -she told me that right after I left, "Song For A..." came on the radio :p

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Storm didn't hit too hard here...6-8" and some deeper snow drifts but not anywhere near as bad as the storm was down South.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

annie, glad all are safe, what a trek...quite the dump

bill/rm...clever...but ok, technically it's still Song for a Fall's Night and i guess it's usually too cold to snow at 10F ...it will be around 0C here on the 25th which makes it snow friendly, they say maybe 10cm (4")

Canucks usually talk of the weather all year but the past 4 weeks it's been 'golf' talk....i jut watched Pinnochio and realized it's a tale of temptation and the consequences...i'll bet Woods is wearing donkey ears these days (but with no tail, ahem)

deb, you're the best...2 folks told me to say clear of kia (and some other makes) yesterday so your solid :clap:endorsement just adds to my vast research and NIL conclusion:confused: lol...maybe i'll just get snow tires for my bike instead:)

pam, hope yas made it to massey and had fun...never saw pics

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

yep! Massey was phenomenal and especially for my son to finally get to Gordon's concert. Haven't been able to post pics here -I keep getting a strange error message :(

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

send to me if u want Pam..i'll try to post them..

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

can't -the files are infected with bedbugs :p

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

ok got bogged down with stuff tonight so just got around to editing these photos the best I could. I did try to follow the 'no flash' @Massey and didn't want to be distracted (or distract anyone else) with having to take too many photos -but wanted to at least get a few for my son. I hate posting these because they didn't come out good at all.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Hey Pam - you did great with the pictures. I had the same issue when I saw Don Henley in November. Tried my best to follow the "no camera" rule, but just couldn't resist at the end when we were all standing right up at the stage during his encores (all FOUR of them LOL). My pics also came out dark, cause I didn't want to blind Don with the flash. Thanks for posting those! :)

Vickie

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

awww thanks and yw anyway Vickie -but these hardly meet my standards to post and so I obviously really didn't want to. It's been time for a new camera for a long time :p -it hasn't been working properly and all my photos have been coming out shitty.

Best I could do to be the least distractive at Massey was to get some shots when Gordon was between songs -but did get the one of Terry best I could for you lol.

Getting to be right up in front of the stage for Don's encores :biggrin: lucky u!!! I'm sure you didn't blind him w/the flash at the end there ;). It's been a hell of a long time since I've been on stage and had any people taking pics...but most all times I'd never even notice. The biggest issue is from the front rows and especially if I happened be looking right at, or nearby where the flash went off...can be most distracting (and blinding). Most of the photos I take of Gordon et al while using a flash...I've taken great care to make sure he's not looking in my general direction.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

They may not have come out real good according to you, but they were good enough that I was reminded of the concert he did here on 10/5/08. That was absolute magic.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

After reading what you all have to say about the cold & how nasty it can get where you are, it makes me glad that I am where I am. It can get colder than a brass tailed monkey sometimes here, but thank goodness I don't live near a body of water when it gets cold. Man, that HAS to be brutal!!!

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

Hunkering down for the big chill tomorrow, wind chill that is, of somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 below. We've done lower but not yet this season. We're expecting a few white-outs too. Definitely a good day to stay indoors with hot soup and tea.

Rich was all over the place yesterday getting home from Charleston. His first plane was late, the connecting flight was cancelled for "aircraft maintenance", a substitute flight by way of Boston got missed, and he finally got shuttled/cabbed to another airport entirely to take a flight on yet another airline to Rochester instead of Syracuse - and then our son's gas tank nearly dropped off the bottom of his (15 year old) car on the NYS Thruway. They jury-rigged the straps and managed to get home in one piece but it's "goodbye purple Intrepid!", hello something else.

Re: Winter in Toronto
 

It was 58 degrees Sunday when I was driving my son back home! So we spent the better part of the day in the car. And man....lots of traffic and I somehow managed to get around 2 major tie-ups on the highway.

The worst was on the Rte 15 highway heading South...closed down! As luck would have it though...we were 1/4 mile from an exit that I could easily access to get to a parallel highway (95). We passed by @2 miles of traffic waiting to get on the closed highway. When I got to the end of my ramp - I let some of these folks who were free to turn around there, know that the highway closed down.

So I can't complain that it took us maybe 2 hours longer for the 1 1/2 trip. Especially reading here what your familiy has been through formlav! And I can't whine about the weather either! Today is sunny and mild (30's) -but tomorrow and the following few days looks like snow/rain/wind.