Toronto just officially had its warmest winter ever

Contrary to what locals normally expect from Toronto winters, this past season was marked by record-breaking warmth, above-seasonal temperatures, and minimal snowfall. 

Spring-time daytime highs and a lack of seasonably cold nights consistently broke weather records across the board, and most recently, ended the meteorological winter out with a bang. 

According to @YYZ_Weather, an account on X (formerly Twitter) that gathers raw statistics from Environment Canada, Toronto Pearson International Airport just had its warmest meteorological winter since records began in 1937, with a mean temperature of 0.3 C. 

Meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each, meaning by the calendar, the first day of winter is always December 1 and the last day is on February 28 (or February 29 during a Leap Year). 

#Toronto-Pearson just had its warmest meteorological winter since records began. Mean temperature was 0.3°C. #YyzWx #TOWx #YYZ #ONWx pic.twitter.com/ECISyFVZII

— Toronto Weather Records🌤 (@YYZ_Weather) March 5, 2024

According to a new report by The Weather Network, Pearson Airport finished February with an average temperature of 0.2 C, which easily beat the previous all-time warmest average February temperature of -0.2 C in 2017. 

"El Niño likely played a critical role in February’s warmth. Persistent upper-level ridges over Central Canada—a hallmark of strong El Niño winters—created favourable conditions for above-seasonal temperatures," the report reads. 

While Toronto typically goes an entire February without a single daytime high of 10 C or warmer, Pearson Airport saw seven days with highs in the teens this year.