[URBAN NOTE] "Baby it's cold outside"

[rfmcdonald]

Boo.

Now's the time to call your boss and ask if you can either work from home or just take the day off tomorrow — anything to avoid driving through the storm that Environment Canada predicts is going to drop upwards of 20 centimetres of snow on Toronto and surrounding area.

This is the forecast for tonight:

"Flurries beginning overnight. Wind west 20 km/h becoming light this evening. Low minus 7."

Here is what they say we can look forward to tomorrow:

"Snow at times heavy and blowing snow. Amount 20 cm. Wind northeast 40 km/h gusting to 60. High minus 4."

And tomorrow night?

"Light snow ending in the evening, then cloudy. Wind northeast 30 km/h becoming light near midnight. Low minus 11."

Whew!

A storm moving from the Colorado Rockies "puts us in prime territory for 15 centimetres of snow in Toronto itself," and about 25 centimetres in Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington, said Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson.

"If you can do your driving today (do it)," Coulson said. "Or postpone it to Saturday."

The same storm track is expected to bring another 15 centimetres of snow on Sunday and possibly again on Christmas Eve, Coulson said, adding that details would firm up over the weekend.

Pearson International Airport has seen 21.4 centimetres of snow fall so far this month, a far cry from the 38 centimetres that blanketed the airport in the first 18 days of December last year.

There's a reason I bought my snowshovel--sturdy green plastic grip, lacquered wooden handle, well-trimmed aluminium blade--for $C22.59 (ncluding tax) at Canadian Tire today.