Toronto snow pile continues to stand despite heat wave

A pile of snow sits in Toronto after the city experiences a string of days where temperatures were over 25 degrees.

The temperature might have lingered in the mid 30s in Toronto for most of last week but it wasn’t enough to melt a massive pile of snow that has been sitting near Downsview Park since the winter.

The City of Toronto operates five designated snow storage sites where excess snow is taken to melt following major storms.

Aerial footage from CP24’s chopper on Monday morning shows that one of the sites located near Transit and Allen roads in North York continues to be home to a large mountain of snow despite the recent sweltering temperatures.

The snow, along with a significant amount of debris, appears to have mostly turned brown as it has baked in the heat in recent weeks, with a steady stream of water runoff visible from the air.

But the mountain continues to soar well above the ground.

Toronto saw a prolonged heat wave last week, with temperatures at one point reaching 36 C, which was the highest temperature recorded in the city in a decade.

News of the lingering snow pile also comes after CTV News reported that a designated snow storage site in Barrie was still home to a pile of snow standing roughly 18-feet in height.

Barrie’s Director of Operations Dave Friary told CTV News last week that one of the reasons the snow pile has persisted through the heatwave is an earlier decision to compact it with a bulldozer, similar to what is done at landfills.

“That’s one of the reasons why it’s hanging around so long,” he said, noting that the snow was a “lot more dense” than it would otherwise be.

Toronto saw one of its snowiest winters in recent memory this year, including a massive storm on Jan. 26 that dumped 46 centimetres of snow at Pearson airport, breaking a single-day record for snowfall that had dated back to 1966.

It is not immediately clear whether any of Toronto’s other snow storage facilities remain home to large piles of snow.