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