cOOL HAVENT Been back to TO since 2005! Remember that cold spell between 17th and 23rd January?! Daytime got down to -21 and didn't get above -19c during the day....I remember that day it was painful and there was a blizzard around 21st January 2005 - gave up to 20cm of fresh powdery snow.

Evening all,

Well a very pronounced west/east split over North America this week with dry and mild conditions out west (exacerbating the California drought) which is currently pulling very mild air right up into the western Canadian Prairies. High today in Regina, SK of 5c which is about 16c above average and welcome I'm sure after the bitter cold of the first half of winter.

Peter will be getting the deck chair out in Calgary: http://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-52_metric_e.html 

Meanwhile in the east it's slowly turning colder after a mild few days. Looks like a series of clipper storms will dive through the Great Lakes this week. These storms usually have very limited moisture associated with them and bring only light snows, with greatest accumulations just to the north of the storm track. Outside of the snow belts you would normally only expect to see a dusting to 3 or 4cm with these storms, a bit more in favoured spots. Sorry Jiries, probably not what you want to hear but at least it's turning seasonably cold with the opportunity of some snowfall.

Snow cover in the east of Canada and the States has been eroded by the recent mild weather. Charlottetown, PEI and St John's NL are both down to around 30cm from 100cm a week ago. The map tells the story: http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif

Longer term hints that the cold east/mild west pattern may continue...

Hi folks,

I hope your right Jiries about the snows but Alberta Clipper type events are often very fickle around here and even worse im sorry to say up in Toronto, even if it does produce steady snowfall it's often only 1-2". The more pressing weather news for these parts could well be what comes next week as you eluded too, it's gonna get cold...proper cold again and this one lasts more than a couple of days, could be highly entertaining this time next week.

As you probably know also, like the summer with % of precipation, in the winter % of flurries is basically the TWN way of saying, a chance for one flurry or one shower in the summer, anything over 60% and you start to take more notice!

Incidentally, not sure what T.O. is like with snowmelt etc, but we still have a pretty good layer of snow on surfaces that are not asphalt and a good layer of Ice from that storm that came by before xmas and caused all the problems. Some winter this year for Southern Ontario.

On the west though, i hear today that Alberta is warming up to potentially record-breaking temps. What is going on with the West/East weather this winter?!!

Take Care

Or maybe a case of the grass is always greener...

For evidence of the west/east split in conditions over North America at the moment, compare and contrast the forecast for the week ahead:

Calgary: http://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-52_metric_e.html

Ottawa: http://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/on-118_metric_e.html

California drought situation worsens: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/as-californias-drought-deepens-a-sense-of-dread-grows.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0 

Though the cold weather is piling back into the east the recent mild and wet spell has greatly reduced the snow cover in many areas. Latest snow on ground totals for some eastern Canadian cities as of 16/01, courtesy Environment Canada:

Toronto Pearson 1cm
Ottawa 13cm
Montreal 7cm
Quebec City 33cm
Charlottetown 12cm (was 102cm on 05/01)
Halifax no snow on ground
St John's 5cm (was 103cm on 06/01)

A series of clipper storms have since started to redress the balance, putting some modest snowfall on the ground around the Great Lakes. Always the opportunity for one of these storms to blow up along the coast and give Atlantic Canada a good snowstorm. But cold will be the big story for many in the Great Lakes and NE States this week. 

Deep cold are arriving here with temps droping every hour and will go down to -23c overnight this week but too dry for my liking as there only little snowfall last night and few flurries on Sunday without proper snow storm that really should come with deep cold like before and last month as well.  Don't know why it too dry under this LP set-up but at least I saw the snow and have my fix so now I am on for early Spring mode, and will be busy with my online business again which keep me very busy and not noticing the UK weather days at all.

You enjoy J

Better than we have here currently

I've been watching the lake ice build up and it looks like the next week or two will see Erie ice over completely with large sections of the other lakes going the same way. I think Ontario is usually the last to ice over  (?) 

I guess Niagara falls will be interesting to watch as the next cold waves push in also:

http://www.earthcam.com/canada/niagarafalls/

Superior + Michigan ice

http://iceweb1.cis.ec.gc.ca/Prod20/page3.xhtml

Eastern lakes ice

http://iceweb1.cis.ec.gc.ca/Prod20/page3.xhtml

Departure from norm - note at time of posting it hasn't updated since 13/01, next couple of updates will be interesting...

http://iceweb1.cis.ec.gc.ca/Prod20/page3.xhtml

Lake Ontario is much deeper than Erie and doesn't (normally) freeze over completely (last recorded occasion was 1934, though not sure how 'official' that would be!). 

The frigid air is back in eastern Canada with temps widely below -20c this morning from southern Ontario through southern Quebec and NB and into northern and western New York and New England. Wind chills are in the -30s. While not quite as bitter an airmass as the one earlier in the month, it will be longer lasting. Toronto isn't likely to see temps rise above -15c until Friday!

Meanwhile the latest clipper is reforming and deepening along the east coast of the States. It should bring at least 6" of snow to the big cities of Washington D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston today. It will then head NE and bring a blizzard to parts of Atlantic Canada including Halifax and Charlottetown. Snowfall here will likely top 30cm. 

Snow totals for the big cities of the I-95 corridor ended up around a foot (13.5" for Philadelphia) so a significant but not huge storm for the area. Arctic air continues to flow in behind the storm, which is now headed up the coast to Atlantic Canada where there will be a full on blizzard over the next 24 hours. http://weather.gc.ca/warnings/report_e.html?ns1

Unlike the fleeting visit of very cold arctic air earlier this month this time around it doesn't look like budging from the eastern Great Lakes any time soon! http://wxweb.meteostar.com/sample/sample_C.shtml?text=CYTZ/ 

No, but the point is year after year of snow and cold... from people I know who live there, they would love a UK winter climate. I think this tends to happen : you want what you haven't got.

Toronto this morning at just after 8am - it's cold dude!

Sun rise over Lake Ontario this morning from a moving GO train

For Graeme, this is Halifax an hour ago as the storm starts. Some impressive totals from Hoboken, NJ overnight compared to Times Square for example, a foot in NJ and just 6" from what i see in downtown NY, still good though. EC going for a foot + in Atlantic Canada today.

It's cold, well very cold here. I missed the vortex event and so this i guess is payback! Heated garage keeps the car from it and anything outdoors exposed including skin will have a tough time in this weather. Currently still -23 in Toronto as Jiries reported, -23c here in Hamilton with a w/c of -29 just below the EC w/c alert limit of -30 although to be honest in these conditions thats pretty irrelevant. Hamilton it seems experiencing a Yellowknife winter this year 

Looks very cold for a good 48hrs or so, some snow tonight, nothing major and again on Fri night into Saturday. That one could be more significant and blown in on gusty squally winds which even although the temp is -7c forecast will probably make it feel -20 to -25. Major winter weather here, i'm in the warm office today. Any more pics i can grab i will of course post.

Take Care

Nice picture Stewart,  it a shame I haven't seen a winter storm here and it bypassed Toronto to NY instead.  Overall it better than nothing and at least witness daily snowcover which is higher than usual for Toronto and some snowfalling but never go more than moderate intensity for a short time.