Double-digit temperatures hit Toronto before cold returns: ‘PREDICTABLY UNPREDICTABLE’
· Toronto Sun
Near-record-breaking temperatures are expected for Toronto this weekend — but don’t pack away the winter coats and boots just yet.
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Showers starting Friday evening will continue overnight into Saturday, but a warm front also moves in to make for a wet, albeit wonderful, forecast of 15C in Toronto.
However, “we might see some thunderstorms,” Environment Canada meteorologist Trudy Kidd told the Toronto Sun — understandable given the shifting temperatures and surge of mild air settling over southern Ontario.
“Saturday’s forecast high is pretty remarkable, far above the seasonal average of 3C,” Kidd said, but noted that the record for March 7 — 17.2C — dates back to 1860.
That said, “it will be unseasonably warm, something that people will really feel” over the next three days. With the winds coming out of the southwest, it could feel even milder.
What next week brings
The rain clears out for Sunday and Monday, with mainly sunny skies and above-seasonal norms of 11C and 16C, respectively, in Toronto.
Tuesday also remains mild with a mix of sun and cloud before mixed precipitation arrives overnight into Wednesday as temperatures return to seasonal.
By Wednesday, expect periods of rain that could switch to snow as the overnight low returns to freezing temperatures before, yes, more flip-flopping.
“Spring in this area is predictably unpredictable,” Kidd said. “Toronto gets on average 17.2 cm of snow in March, and April on average, 4.5 cm of snow, so we do often see these temperature swings. It’s all par for the course.”
By mid-week, the GTA will return to normal temperatures — but not for too long.
“By about mid-month, we’re going to swing to cooler-than-normal conditions,” Kidd said, calling the shift “inevitable.”
She noted that it will last about a week and by the last week of March, at this point, it’ll be a mixed bag of normal, cooler-than-normal and warmer-than-normal conditions.