Advertisement

Mild winter pattern brings more rain than snow in parts of southern Ontario

Mild winter pattern brings more rain than snow in parts of southern Ontario
Mild winter pattern brings more rain than snow in parts of southern Ontario

Click here to view the video

We know 2023 started on a mild note for much of Canada, with temperatures in southern Ontario trending 2°C-5°C above seasonal. But what these daytime highs also contributed to was a higher-than-normal amount of rain for the region.


SEE ALSO: Police urge caution: 3 people fall through Lake Ontario ice near Toronto Islands


Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) received just shy of 42 mm of rain for the month of January, which was well above the normal 25 mm that station on average usually receives in the month.

RainfallStat
RainfallStat

Also of note is that in December, 82 mm of rain fell at the airport versus just 14 cm of snow.

While the first week of February brought back the frigid cold, it was a quick and temporary blast as temperatures are now trending well above seasonal for the second week of February, and possibly beyond.

With this milder trend, weather systems that track into the region will bring a messy mix of precipitation, with more rain than snow for much of southern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). With a more northerly storm track, milder air is able to surge north into southern Ontario, bumping temperatures above the freezing mark and bringing more widespread rainfall.

image1 (1)
image1 (1)

The normal amount of rainfall during February at Pearson airport is 24 mm, a number that could possibly be reached or exceeded by the end of this week with a couple systems forecast to track through.