I was born and raised in Toronto. Back in the 1960s I remember Hallowe’ens with frosted pumpkins, and I remember long before the advent of plastic bags, that we would have a paper Simpson’s or Eaton’s bag (because they had handles) to collect our candy from the neighbourhood. Woe to inexperienced youngsters who set their bags on the ground on a rainy or snowy night. By the time they got home, most of their candy was lost through a hole in the bottom of the bag.
I actually do remember walking more than a mile to school, often in heavy snow, though I admit it wasn’t uphill in both directions. It was colder before, and it’s gotten a lot warmer since. I still vaguely recall a story my father told me from before I was born, about how a monster snowstorm swept Toronto dropping 6 feet of snow overnight. The entire city was paralyzed traffic-wise. It wasn’t a question of people being able to get out of their driveways. They couldn’t even get into the street.
The hero of the whole story was the commissioner of the Toronto Transit Commission, who paid all his drivers overtime to keep driving their streetcars all night long instead of stopping at 1:00 AM as they usually did back then. By the simple expedient of keeping the trolleys going, the streetcar tracks were kept clear. Anyone who could make it to a streetcar could make it to anywhere else on the streetcar lines. People created tunnels along the sidewalks, and chopped holes to the street so they could get to the streetcar tracks. Just like what happened here in Moncton, NB.
All around Toronto the winds have changed just enough, and all the cities along the Golden Horseshoe have grown enough to change our insolation (how much sunlight we absorb) so that the harsh winters we used to have had given way to much milder temperatures. Pity poor Buffalo on the south side of Lake Ontario since the winds come from the north and the lake-effect drops tonnes of snow on them. We’ve even had occasion, when experiencing spring like temperatures, to send our snow moving equipment down to Buffalo to help clear out their city.
Of course we have beautiful spring weather, too, with lush valleys and trails and parks, all verdant and fresh, lightly sprinkled by showers. Our green lands are just a pure pleasure to be around. But even those people still confined to the concrete jungle will see trees and flowers scattered hither and yon by the city works or park commissions.
Our summers have often topped 35, or even 40° C because of our geography. It allows an inversion layer to park itself right over top of the city, like putting a lid on a boiling pot; this is due to the curve of the lake and the surrounding escarpment that used to form the shore of Lake Iroquois in the last ice age, 20,000 years ago. That lake, of course, was considerably larger and deeper than Lake Ontario.
And then autumn rolls around and is time to don a sweater as we watch the leaves change from brilliant green, to yellow, and orange, and fiery red. It gets a little bit rainy too, but it’s generally a pleasant rain, rather than a harsh, steady drizzle like you might find in Seattle, or even Vancouver. Most Torontonians call it “liquid sunshine” because the sky is often clear and the sun is up and bright while these transient little showers sprinkle us and then vanish.
For most of the year it is stunningly pleasant in Toronto, even in the wintertime. That statement only fails when we get a freaky snowstorm. Canadians are notoriously good drivers in the snow, usually, but when that first storm hits it takes a while for some people to remember their skills. This video shows people cooperating as they plod steadily behind the snow plows that are running four abreast to clear the snow most efficiently.
Looking Around at Toronto
This city webcam (located at the Port of Toronto) is so detailed that it easily reveals the weather. Note the two red circles (zoom in), where there were stars visible, despite the city light! To have a look at the daily video for the last 24 hours, click the link.
The Royal Ontario Museum Webcam
The Royal Ontario Museum, known local as the ROM, is always on display as well, via a camera mounted on the Park Hyatt Toronto (hotel), across the street on the north side. You can take a peek any time because it’s always well-lit. Just refresh the page and get a new image every minute. Earlier I had a sandy brown evening image, but I waited until after midnight so would switch to night vision. We all need a little novelty in our lives.
Billy Bishop Airport Webcam
If you want to take a look at the Billy Bishop Airport, named after the WWI flying Ace, it is available at this link. Billy Bishop also served in WWII, as Air Marshal for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). He organized the training of 167,000 men as pilots for the Second World War.
His career took quite a toll on him, and his son remarked that he looked 70 years old during his 50th birthday party. Despite his health, when the Korean War rolled around, he immediately called the RCAF and volunteered. They politely turned him down because of his frailty.
Weather Reporting
Of course the best weather reporting site in the city is the radio station or the online presence of 680News. Since they’re affiliated with CITYTV, if you’re online, you can watch their video weather presentation; if you’re on the go you can use their phone app; or in your car just turn to 680 on at your AM dial and hear updates every 10 minutes all day long.
If, on the other hand, you need more detailed reporting then Weatherspark is the place to get both historical and predictive data, including expected highs and lows, measures of relative humidity, or even daily sunrise and sunset.
Of course we can’t forget Environment Canada, since that is their primary job. Plus of course we pay for it with tax dollars so we may as well take advantage of it. It’s a premium resource for weather alerts, incorporating radar, satellite, air quality, ice monitoring, lightning, hurricanes, and for folks out on the water the marine forecast.
If you happen to be a migraine sufferer, maybe AccuWeather is the site for you. Not only do they track the things that everybody else covers, but they also report on how the weather will affect migraines. For example on the day I grabbed this image, it was looking like a bad day for migraine headaches. Fortunately the next three days are looking good!
Yes, I love Toronto, no matter how much other people like to hate it. Cleanest, safest, biggest, and friendliest city we’ve got. People City!