Toronto just smashed a weather record with brutally strong winds

Spring may be here on paper, but Toronto is in the midst of a transition out of winter weather that has made for some unpleasant days this week.

Despite temperatures trending above freezing, Wednesday has been a particularly miserable day to be outdoors as freezing rain and high winds whip across the city.

Cold rain and wind are nothing out of the ordinary for late March, but Wednesday came with a special weather statement warning of freezing rain and unusually strong gusts of wind, the latter surpassing a long-standing weather record.

Maximum gusts of 80 kilometres per hour were recorded at Toronto Island on Wednesday, the highest wind reading for any Mar. 23 since record-keeping began over 50 years ago.

🥇With a max gust of 80km/h, today is #Toronto Island's windiest Mar 23rd since records began in 1970. #TOWx #ONWx pic.twitter.com/Uw5vFPPlMq

— Toronto Weather Records🌤 (@YYZ_Weather) March 23, 2022

The previous record for windspeed was set back in 1991, with comparably high maximum gusts of 78 km/h, though in at least 52 years, no Mar. 23 has been this windy.

Toronto folks, be careful out there.

We just had a microburst of wind that toppled our basketball net. It was pretty weighted down. We've had it for years and that's never happened before.

(And thank goodness it missed the car.)

— Chris is 😷 💉💉💉 (@ChristyCeeCK) March 23, 2022

The wind has since died down a bit on Toronto Island, maximum gusts topping out at 53 km/h as of around 2 p.m. according to Environment Canada.

Though that doesn't mean we're out of the woods, wind picking pack up to 40 km/h with gusting up to 70 in the evening hours before dying back down to light winds before morning.

Strong wind gusts today, stronger near the lake and of course in high rise buildings, haven't peaked quite yet. Will get a bit stronger this evening in #Toronto pic.twitter.com/lq20gwmzvI

— Meteorologist Natasha Ramsahai (@CityNatasha) March 23, 2022

Winter is behind us, and patio season is now within reach, but there will still be a few weeks of chilly, damp, miserable weather before Toronto can get out and start enjoying the sunshine again.