March has arrived, which means spring is almost here.
Soon we’ll set the clocks forward and it will no longer be dark out when we leave work to wait for the streetcar.
Soon, the snow will melt and the sun will finally return to keep our pipes from freezing and bring our Vitamin D levels back to par.
At least, it better.
‘Cause this has felt like the coldest winter in Toronto history – and in fact, IT WAS.
That’s right, February was the coldest month in recorded Toronto history with the average temperature throughout the month sitting at a frigid -12.6 C.
So yes, all your whining and complaining about the weather was not unwarranted this season.
Though technically, it is tied for the coldest month in Toronto’s history with February 1875, that means the last time anyone in the city experienced this level of cold was 140 years ago – so we can lay claim to the fact that no one currently living has experienced a colder month in Toronto than we did these past four weeks.
Actually, make that five weeks. From the 37 days between January 24th and February 28th the daily high temperature never once broke the melting point.
Twenty-three days within the month were marked with an extreme cold weather warning by the city, up from 2014’s twelve alerts, 2013’s three, and 2012’s two.
The standard average temperature for February is -4.5 C, over 8 degrees warmer than what we dealt with this year.
This week will bring the first day the temperature will rise above 0 C since late January.
In the past two weeks, the city of Toronto has received more than 2,600 “no water” calls – meaning pipes have frozen over in 10 times more homes than what is expected in a typical Toronto winter.
February 15th was the coldest day of the month at -25.5 C with a wind-chill of –40 C. It didn’t break the record for coldest day though – January 4, 1981 was a frozen -31.3 C.
The previous coldest month on record was January 1994, when the average temperature was -12.4 C.
For those who, like us, can’t wait for the first day of spring – mark your calendars – March 20th is only a few short weeks away…
#NOTABLE
Want more updates on the most Notable things happening so you know before your colleagues do? Get our exclusive newsletter here and follow us on Twitter for all the latest.
