[URBAN NOTE] It will snow anyway

[rfmcdonald]

Toronto's Christmas might have been practically snowless despite my expectations, but it has more than made up for it lately with cold weather alerts and record snowfalls.

After two abnormally temperate winters, Jack Frost has returned to Toronto with his pockets full of snow – near-record amounts, to be precise.

Wednesday and yesterday's accumulated snow dump of 33 centimetres pushed this winter's total accumulation to 128 centimetres – 13 centimetres above Toronto's average snowfall for an entire winter.

But while this winter has been snowier than most, the actual amount that remains in town is closer to 50 centimetres because above-seasonal temperatures in January melted 78 centimetres that had accumulated from earlier dumps.

"Our climate tends to fluctuate, especially around the freezing mark. You can see a good snowfall and then five days later it's raining and five degrees. Then the snow disappears," says Geoff Coulson, Toronto-based meteorologist with Environment Canada.

With 128 centimetres this winter, the city has received roughly the same amount of snow since November as it did the previous two winters combined.

Even as I type, snowflakes are drifting quietly but insistently down.

Toronto is definitely on the wrong side of the Solar System's snowline.