Keep your snow tires on. Toronto’s experiencing ‘false spring’ right now, climatologist says

Although spring officially starts on March 20, climatologist David Phillips said he won’t be removing his winter tires just yet.

Toronto is in for more snowy weather, said Phillips. Toronto consistently sees snow in April and has only twice in the past 75 years not had it, I added.

“Spring is always reluctant to arrive in Canada, and I think this year will be no exception,” Phillips said.

“What we’ve had so far has really been false spring.”

Indeed, with 117.4 centimeters of snow falling cumulatively since January, Toronto has seen more snow than Montreal for the first time in 18 years.

The weekend started off warm. Toronto’s temperature reached a high of 15 degrees on Friday, which Phillips said is about 10 degrees warmer than normal for mid-March. Weather Canada predicts the city will have a high of 11 degrees on Saturday.

Phillips said Torontonians should not dismay over the moderate spring; the ground is still frozen, and summerlike temperatures could cause flooding, he said.

“That would be a prescription for disaster,” Phillips said. “You want spring to be a transition season.”

Last year, Toronto experienced 27 days above 30 degrees.

Phillips noted Torontonians should not expect that level of warmth again, noted Phillips, who added that the city usually only has 16 days at that heat. Still, Phillips predicts, cautiously, that this summer could be warm.

“The hint seems to be a warmer than normal summer, but I wouldn’t bet too much money on it right now.”