winter forecast 2021 ontario

Ontario in for a white winter but Toronto could be spared from the worst

It looks like Ontario is set to see a long winter of La Niña-impacted polar jet streams walloping the province with snowfall, but a Canadian winter forecast from AccuWeather.com is saying that Toronto and the rest of the Great Lakes region might avoid the worst of the weather.

AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Anderson dashed the hopes of Toronto skiers and snowboarders, saying that while "the majority of the snowstorms will track [from the Rockies and southern Plains of the U.S.] up into Ontario and Quebec," Toronto is less likely to see severe snowfall.

"The Great Lakes snow belts are likely to get less lake-effect snow compared to normal during December and January," said Anderson, predicting below-average ice coverage on the Great Lakes based on warmer-than-average water temperatures as of mid-October.

AccuWeather cites water temperature readings from SeaTemperature.info, in their report saying that "water temperatures in Lake Ontario were hovering around 65 degrees Fahrenheit in the second week of October, significantly higher than in years past."

Oh, you silly Americans with your silly imperial measurements. That's 18.3 C in ACTUAL degrees.

But if you're a fan of winter weather, fear not.

Anderson predicts that the Great Lakes region could be back to the normal frozen, salt-encrusted, slush-saturated, wiping out on black ice season we've all come to know and love, saying that snowfall "may pick up by February with a possible increase in cold shots over mostly-open lakes."

Elsewhere in Ontario and neighbouring Quebec, Anderson expects it will not be as cold of a winter as usual, though the mercury will still plunge low enough to "support many opportunities for significant snowfall this winter. I expect a favourable winter with solid snow bases across much of ski country in eastern Canada."

Lead photo by

A Great Capture


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