The first storm of the season has descended upon my sleepy city. I can hear what should be snow, but is instead a sleet cold rain, falling outside my apartment window. There is white dust on roof tops and slush on asphalt. I am hiding inside my castle in the sky. The CN tower is hiding too, behind the blanket of white.
Toronto has had the mildest fall on record. For the first time in over 80 years there was no snow in November. Earlier this week I left my basement bunker at the ROM and lost my breath for a moment, when tiny white flakes fell upon my face. I hate winter, but there is something sacred about the first snowfall.
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The overarching point is valid, but I’ve been enjoying our little weather/climate discrepancy. Especially since this past October was both colder and wetter (and thus objectively more miserable) than average.
And to be fair, I suspect if you do witness the end of ice, chances are good that none of the tropics will be habitable and we will have much worse things to worry about. Toronto still sees its fair share of -20 degree days in the dead of winter.
And, more proof that All Weather Is Local: Vancouver has been really freakin’ cold lately. If there had been any precipitation over the last week or so, it would have been snow (which is also unusual!).
Truth be told, I hope that El Nino goes crazy this year, if only to counteract the unusual cold that decided to only hit North America (and some of Western Europe) last year and shake the “so much for global warming!” crowd by the shoulders a little.
It’s more a quiet meditation on staying inside and a pretty photo than a large sweeping statement on the state of our climate. But yeah, temperatures are variable, climate is changing and Canadians love to talk about the weather!