toronto weather

Brief sprinkling of snow has people in Toronto saying winter is already here

As much as residents of Toronto may want to deny the impending winter, autumn is quickly ending and the chill is here to stay, with parts of the city seeing a hint of what many are calling our first snowfall on Monday afternoon.

Despite the fact that this month has brought single-digit temperatures, grey skies, and its fair share of messy precipitation thus far, people appeared pretty surprised to see the white stuff make its arrival, however brief and meagre it was.

And, contrary to the city's usual reaction, most seemed to be... happy? Or at least, not unhappy about the phenomenon.

There are of course those who are reluctant to face the fact that another of our long, cold winters will soon be upon us, with balmy temps and sunny skies on hold for the next six months or so.

But others have been taking to social media lately to complain about the fact that Toronto has yet to see any snow thus far this season while other parts of the GTA already have, and were thus glad to see even a hint of it today.

The bursts were intermittent and spotty, location-wise, confusing the heck out of many residents...

... especially when the weather IRL completely defied the forecast for the city.

Some neighbourhoods had beautiful sunny skies, while others were hit with a quick sprinkling of the white stuff, or even hail.

Many saw a combination of all of the above over the course of the day, with conditions changing within minutes.

According to The Weather Network, squalls blowing off of Lake Huron meant a decent mount of snow and a messy commute in some parts of Southern Ontario.

Several centimetres are already falling or expected to fall and accumulate on the ground north of the city in places like Barrie and Newmarket, as well as west of the city in places like Kitchener and London.

In Toronto, meanwhile, Pearson International Airport saw its first snow of the season on Sunday, a few days earlier than what is typical for the year, with a total of about 1.4 cm.

Environment Canada had forecasted a high likelihood of flurries hitting the city overnight into Monday morning, with today's high only reaching 5 C but feeling more like 0 C.

The city is due to get more wintry climate ahead of the holidays than usual this year, so residents should be prepared for less of today's sun and more of the snow in the weeks to come, as well as falling temperatures.

Lead photo by

Jeremy Gilbert


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