Toronto residents woke up on Monday, Nov. 11, to a winter-like landscape that was unseasonable after a major snowstorm that had shattered two long-held weather records around early November.
The city was hit with 9.8 centimeters of snow on Sunday 9 November and more snow followed overnight.
As reported by Environment Canada, this was the heaviest November 9 in 54 years, beating the record of 1.5 centimeters in 1971.
In addition, the total amount of snow in the two days of the storm is the most significant amount of snow that Toronto had experienced in the beginning of the season since October 1981.
“A very rare event for this much snow to fall this early in the Toronto area,” Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said.
He explained that it is not unheard of for light snow to occur earlier in November, but the amount of snow on this particular date was the first experienced at Pearson International Airport, the city’s weather station.
The disruptive storm was experienced throughout the area, with Hamilton receiving 17 cm and Ottawa receiving 12 cm.
Ontario Provincial Police are reported to have attended more than 200 crashes across the Greater Toronto Area due to the slippery conditions.
The City of Toronto responded by deploying brining and salting activities on priority routes.
Although early week or early season temperatures will not be able to rise above the seasonal average of 8°C, the early sign of winter will actually ease by midweek and temperatures will return to a more moderate range on Wednesday 12 November.
