toronto weather

Toronto just set a weather record for greyest January in 11 years

The punishingly overcast, cheerless weather that Toronto has faced (and complained about) thus far in 2024 has actually made for the the worst conditions we've had in years, at least when it comes to the sunshine.

New updates from The Weather Network as we kick of February have confirmed that, while the sun is finally back as of this weekend, the region just suffered through the greyest January it's had in more than an entire decade.

The first month of 2024 included more hours of cloud cover over 26 gloomy days than any January in TWN's records, which go back to 2013.

What's worse, it followed an equally dismal December, which had 28 days that were mostly sunless, and without any snow to make the season at least feel a little more joyous and festive.

Experts called the dull conditions extremely uncharacteristic of Southern Ontario, and more comparable to what one would expect in Vancouver around this time of year.

By mid-January, we only saw 30 hours of sunlight compared to the usual 200 or so, Environment Canada meteorologists told CTV News Toronto at the time.

Any sun we did receive was on the few more seasonably chilly days, as is typically the case for winter in the city, with balmier temperatures translating to more clouds, and colder, to more sun.

Thankfully, the sun is proudly showing its face all over the city today, and is expected to stick around for quite a few days, with just one hour of sunlight on Thursday turning to 6 on Friday and 9 on Saturday.

Residents who have been bummed out all winter are already celebrating, as the downtown core hasn't seen a sunny weekend since mid-November 2023. 

As one TikTok creater said in a video that has is resonating with people in Toronto this week despite it not actually being filmed here: "The weather has a huge impact on how happy I am. The sun's out, the buns are out, everything is fun, it's just a good day!"

He continued, on what appeared to be a rare sunny day in his hometown: "I hope you're having a good day today! Have a great day, I love you!"

EnviroCan predicts sunny skies and temperatures of between 2 C and 5 C  today through to Tuesday, so people should get out and enjoy it while they can.

Lead photo by

Cody Nottingham/Unsplash


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in City

Mysterious Parisian-style pavilion in Toronto hides abandoned secret tunnel

Canadians could be getting even more money from the feds next week

Deadline approaches for Canadians to claim part of $1.8M Nissan settlement

Ontario Place bulldozed under cover of darkness and people are livid

German neighbourhood has streets named after Toronto and other Canadian cities

Here's when Toronto could get its first snowfall of the year

Ontario child dies of rabies after contact with bat in their home

Canada just got a stunning new sundial coin that can actually tell time