This winter

Here we are the end of January, and I think a lot of us are saying when it is winter going to end. What has made this year so different is we have been having major snow falls and extremely cold weather. Here in Toronto, we have broken records for the most snow fall in one day and the coldest January on record. 

In some cases what we haven’t said anything about is the areas just outside of Toronto that have broken records of their own. Barrie, Ontario which is roughly an hour north of Toronto has set a record with getting move than 300 cm from November 1, 2025 – January 28, 2026, which isn’t a record I would like to say we achieved. So, 300 cm of snow is 118 inches of snow which is 9.83 feet of snow. I wouldn’t have wanted to deal with that amount of show and thankfully it didn’t come all at one time but having to continually have to shovel our driveway would become a little much. We have friends that live up in Barrie, and they are saying “enough is enough”.

It isn’t just Ontario that has been getting the extremely weather as there are people in Texas, that has seen snow and then areas like Atlanta, George that have received ice storms which are extreme for both of these areas. I know people in other of those areas and they have commented on how different this has been.

Here we are the first week of February and I am not certain what this winter has in store other than the next couple of weeks are going to continue to be very for us here in Ontario and I just hope things will star to warm up even a little bit for areas to the south of us. Seeing the temperatures are levels that not what we normally have doesn’t make me happy. This morning, we awoke with a temperature of -1F feeling like -28F wasn’t a good thing. Now I am looking at the forecast over the next 14 days, but we might not reach the temperatures that we did in the last couple of days, but we are still cold and that doesn’t make me happy.

We might not be reaching the lows that we have reached this past week, but I have to admit that I am very tired with the snow that we have got in the last couple of weeks (12 inches, and then an additional 22 inches) as well as the cold temperatures. I guess all we can do is except that this is the weather that we are going to get in the next couple of weeks and then hope it warms up soon.

It might not feel that we are getting a break from this cold and fridged weather but we also have to remember that in the middle of July when we are complaining about the heat and humidity we have to deal with extremely cold weather as well.

 

Snowstorm Jan 25/26

Here we are trying to document the storm that hit us here in Toronto, Ontario on January 25, 2026. The original forecast was that we might get around 10 or 20 cm of snow, so it wasn't going to be too bad. 

Well, I have to admit that after watching the snow fall throughout Sunday, I came to realize that we were getting a lot more snow than was originally forecast. What also made me wonder about the show was watching the snow falling and looking out our window and seeing that there was roughly 9 inches of snow on our windowsill, so I figured we had got a lot more snow that we had been originally forecast.

I was also trying to track the snowfall that we were getting and it kept increase from the original 10-20 cm to now 30-40 cm to what they finally said we would be going to get between 50 - 60 cm of snow before the storm finally stopped. Well, we were watching the area around us and realized that there was a lot of snow that we wondered how it had been cleared because we hadn't heard a lot of snowplows, so we decided to go outside and see what it really looked like.

Now, word of warning, I went outside without putting boots on and only went out with my runners on because I didn't think I would venture very far from the door. Well, as you can clearly see there weren't very many paths for anyone to walk so I decided that I would try and see if I could at least get some walking achieved but before long I decided it was time to turn around and head back to the door and forget about trying to adventure to see what it was like out.

What I did discover was a lot of the parking lot hadn't been plowed because the snow had just kept falling making it a challenge to doing the plowing that was necessary. We also saw that a lot of people had taken the advice of the police and had stayed home and avoided being on the road.

So now, here it is the start of another work week, and we have already heard that schools within the GTA are closed tomorrow which I think is a great idea and we will see what else ends up being closed. There were things that were closed today during the snowstorm but now to figure out what is going to be closed tomorrow as a result of the after effects of the storm. I guess we are going to be waking up tomorrow to figure what is going to be cancelled or opened tomorrow. 

I haven't heard the total snowfall accumulation as of when I am writing this blog, but I have to say that we probably have between 18 - 24 inches of snow that fell and that wasn't what was forecasted so now we need to figure out how now to manage this snow. 

If you were impacted by this storm, I hope that you were able to manage it because I know there were areas that got freezing rain, others got sleek and then there were us that got snow. I hope if you were impacted by this storm, you were able to stay safe and hopefully things are getting better for you.

Edit: now that the snow has stopped it was reported that downtown Toronto received 56cm (22 inches) of snow.

 

Winter in Ontario

There are some years when we get to Christmas and we look out the window and wonder if we are ever going to get snow and then there are the years that we have snow way before Christmas. This year we had snow earlier in December and then most of it melted so Christmas at least in Toronto was one of those where you could wear running snows and not worry about slipping and sliding. 

In southern Ontario the snow came on December 26^th when we got hit with quite a bit of snow. Of course, it made driving rather difficult so anyone that was heading off to see relations had to deal with snow covered roads for most of the day. For us, it was a day to stay home and not think about venturing out. We finally did go out on the 30^th of December just to get out and see what it was like out, but boots were part of what was needed for that trip out.

The weather has also been very cold which hasn’t helped at all because it isn’t even enjoyable being out in the snow so for us it’s been a season of hiding at home and not wanting to deal with the wind chill that we have been getting. Being able to go out only when we had to go out was nice.

January 5^th which was the first day back to work and school was met with another 10 cm (4 inches) of snow which isn’t something anyone wanted to see when they were trying to commute to work. It resulted in a rather messy day on the roads. Being able to work at home does have its advantages because we didn’t have to deal with the traffic or the snow.

Here it is the next day when I write this, and we are now under a freezing rain warning with a possible accumulation of 1 to 5 mm of ice accretion or build up possible. This isn’t the start to the new year that people have wanted. School buses outside of Toronto have been cancelled because of this year so it isn’t the start that anyone wanted. The forecast for the next few days so looks like it is going to warm up some so we will see if that really happens. We may still get rain but the forecast for Friday is 9C (48F) so a lot of the snow is going to melt.

Yes, winter in Ontario is so different and you don’t have to drive very far out of the City of Toronto before you see lots more snow. We will see what the rest of the winter is like and know that there are other places even in Ontario and other parts of Canada that are getting worse weather than us.

Snow

It's amazing to watch people drive when it snows out.  Ontario got a lot of snow on Friday, and some people drove like it was perfectly dry out.  I was able to watch one truck fishtail a couple of times, and I am not sure if he made it to where he was going or not.  The media kept saying to drive slowly and be patient, and you would get to where you were going.

For me, it meant a day to watch people through a window instead of being out in it.  The most amazing thing was listening on Saturday to people complaining about the roads not being plowed on Friday.  I had watched the plows go by at least 3 times during the day trying to keep ahead of the snow but considering we got between 25 and 35 cm in under 24 hours it was a lot for a city to handle.

The city seems to be able to get the roads cleared as much as they could, but it was the cars that were parked on the sides of the roads that made it difficult.  Lots of cars parked on the roads meant that the plows couldn't get close to the edge of the road, resulting in narrower roads.  Hopefully now that the snow has started to melt, things will start to get back to normal.

My advice when it snows like it did on Friday, stay home if you can and avoid being out on the roads and dealing with the individuals that don't know how to drive in snow.

Slippery weather

Today was a day when people that couldn't drive in slippery weather should have just stayed home.

The weather has been very up and down lately and today was one of those days when we woke up with 6 cm of snow and the forecast was for freezing rain and then rain.  The temperature was just at -1 C, so it meant that the snow was heavy and hard to deal with.  While waiting for a bus, which was probably the best mode of transportation today, I got to watch people and vehicles go by.  One bus that seemed to have problems stopping and going around curves in the road was interesting to watch.  It made it to my stop without too much problem, but that was it.  It got to the next stop with some difficulty but leaving that stop is when it got stuck.  I am so glad that I wasn't on that bus because everyone had to get off it and onto another bus, so they could continue their trip.

People walking didn't seem to have too much problem, but not sure how long that is going to last because if we do get any freezing rain it is going to make the shovelled sidewalks very slippery.  So people that wore running shoes may find it hard to walk if it does get slippery.

The good news is this afternoon we are supposed to get to +4C, so a lot of this rotten snow should start to melt.  The bad news about the melt is if the sewers are blocked with plowed snow the water will have nowhere to go, so it will mean big puddles which drives seem to like driving through and seeing how high the water will spray.  So, let's hope that the temperature rises slowly, so it can make its way to the sewer so that puddles are very small.

So, for people that don't like driving in slippery weather, just wait until tomorrow, as we are supposed to have really nice weather and all of this snow and slippery stuff will be gone.

Snow

Our car covered in snow - Dec 27/12

For a lot of people around the world, snow is something we deal with a few months of the year.  Other people never see it as their country is a lot warmer and closer to the equator, and then there are others that deal with snow most of the year.

This picture is of our car buried in snow after 27 cm of snow hit just after Christmas in 2012.  The car was pretty covered in snow and all around the car looked the same.  It took DH a while (almost 30 minutes) to dig out the car but thank goodness the driveway was plowed out before we tried to move the car.

For some people the thought of snow means an enjoyment of skiing, skating, tobogganing and other winter events.  I don't mind some snow but have to admit that when we woke up to that much snow and when travelling I could have had a lot less.  I love seeing snow outside, but I don't like the slippery conditions that result when it starts to melt and then freezes.

So, for those of you like me, just remember it only lasts a few months each year.