Toronto got more snow in the last week than it did all last winter, says climatologist, but relief may be on way with ‘warmer than normal’ March

Environment Canada Climatologist Dave Phillips says this past snow storm accumulated the same amount of snow Toronto received all of last winter.

The snow that fell in Toronto over the past week is more than what the city saw all last winter, says Environment Canada Climatologist David Phillips, however relief is coming in March with “warmer-than-normal” temps expected.

“From last weekend to the middle of the week to this past weekend, we’ve ended up with as much snow as we would get all of last winter. In one week, we matched what we got all of last winter,” Phillips told CP24’s Bakari Savage on Monday morning.

“And when you get back-to-back-to-back kind of dumps of snow, this is quite, obviously, quite impactful. I’m sure that there are many areas in Toronto you’ve got a half a metre of snow sitting on the ground.”

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The long-time weather forecaster said 71 centimetres of snow has fallen so far in February in the Toronto area.

“That’s about five times [what] you would get by this time of the month,” Phillips said, adding it’s quite possible that more of the white stuff could come before winter’s end.

“But that’s not a forecast. I’m just saying don’t put away the shovel or the snow plow quite yet, because winter is not over.”

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He added that while the last time Toronto saw a similar snowfall was in January 2022, the year he remembers most is 1999, when then-mayor Mel Lastman called in the army after Toronto received a major dump of snow.

Phillips said the last two bouts of snow in the region also “didn’t fall in nice, fluffy little flakes.”

“I mean, we had, in total, 73 hours of blowing snow,” he said, noting that visibility was also significantly impacted.

“Half of that time, [it] was down to less than two kilometres so you couldn’t see very far ahead of you, and you still had to deal with all of this snow.”

GTA residents have also had to contend with some seriously cold temperatures in the last week, which Phillips said hasn’t stopped the snow from piling up.

“We’ve had not one melting temperature in this past week in Toronto. We’ve had no rain and it’s all been just the white stuff and the cold has continued,” he said.

However, some relief may soon be on the horizon.

“It’s going to be cold to the end [of February], but I see some warmth coming,” said Phillips.

“March looks like it’s going to be warmer than normal.”