Toronto: One of the coldest fall stretches, will it last?
theweathernetwork.com
Thursday, December 6, 2018, 9:34 AM - First the cloudiest and most sun-starved November in years and now one of the coldest stretches on record? Toronto is certainly landing on the wrong side of fall this year.
(LONG RANGE: Pattern reversal ahead: Is your white Christmas at risk?)
To summarize: October 1- November 30 in 2018 was the fifth coldest ever for Toronto (YYZ) and the coldest since 1980.
The average temperature for this entire period is 11°C, but this year, the average daytime high for Toronto was 8.7°C between October and November, a full 2.3°C below the normal value. That's enough to rank as the fifth coldest year on record and that's in contrast to the previous two years, where the city actually ranked as above normal for the two month time period.
"Fall always brings the arrival of chillier temperatures, but this year that change was even more abrupt than usual, as Toronto saw one of it's chilliest October-November periods on record," says Weather Network meteorologist Michael Carter. "The last time we saw colder temperatures in October-November was all the way back in 1980, when temperatures averaged 8.4 degrees."
A SIGN OF WHAT'S TO COME?
As we head towards mid-December we actually expect the cold to relax as Pacific air (as opposed to arctic air) floods much of the country from west to east. That will allow milder and even above seasonal temperatures to dominate for much of December.
(WINTER IS HERE: How will El Niño shape Canada's upcoming winter? Find out with The Weather Network’s 2019 Winter Forecast | FORECAST & MAPS HERE)
"However, this milder pattern will get interrupted for a couple of days early to mid next week as colder air over Quebec edges back into our region from the northeast," warns Dr. Doug Gillham, another meteorologist at The Weather Network. "We expect a transition back to a more wintry pattern roughly around Christmas, but it is too early to know if that will occur just before or after Christmas."
