I think the reason for that is Toronto is as far south as Toulouse in France. So the sun has more strength to it in Toronto compared to places like Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton. I remember being in Boston a few years ago and it was sunny day even though the temp was -10C it felt kind of warm in the sun but it was only January. 

Hope you get that -20c Tim! Back here, we await possibly the 2nd biggest snowstorm of the winter :

City of Hamilton

3:26 PM EST Tuesday 04 February 2014
Snowfall warning for 
City of Hamilton continued

Persons in or near this area should be on the lookout for adverse weather conditions and take necessary safety precautions. Watch for updated statements.

Please refer to the latest public forecasts for further details and continue to monitor the situation through your local radio and television stations or Weatheradio.

City of Hamilton

11:41 AM EST Tuesday 04 February 2014
Special weather statement for 
City of Hamilton continued

A significant snowfall beginning tonight and tapering off Wednesday.

A developing low pressure centre over Louisiana is forecast to track into Southern Ohio overnight. It is already tapping into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico today which will quickly spread northwards throughout the afternoon. Snow is expected to arrive over Southwestern Ontario early this evening and the Golden Horseshoe around midnight. It is expected to reach communities north of Lake Ontario overnight and Eastern Ontario very early Wednesday morning.

Most regions from Windsor to Toronto to Kingston and Brockville will likely have received several centimetres of snow by the Wednesday morning rush hour. The heaviest snow is expected to fall Wednesday morning, impacting the commute for many areas. Commuters should allow extra time due to accumulating snow and reduced visibility in falling snow.

Total amounts of 10 to 15 cm are likely from Windsor to Toronto into Eastern Ontario by the time the snow tapers off Wednesday when the centre of low pressure heads into New England. A snowfall warning is in effect for portions of the Golden Horseshoe to the southwest of Toronto where in excess of 15 cm of snow is expected.

Lake enhancement could see this one go over 20cm range, all of Ontario's road authorities, YYZ and YHM have activated their snow plans and the words 'snowday' being muted around here. Gonna be more fun in a wild winter, snowfall rates could be high due to -5c temps and that NE wind. 

Love the Golden Horseshoe in winter, will update tomorrow

Consecutive Days with a Low Temperature Below Zero at Duluth

Today, February 5th, marks the 17th day in a row with a low temperature below zero at Duluth. The last day a low temperature was zero or above was on January 19th with a low temperature of 13 degrees. The record for consecutive days of a minimum temperature below zero at Duluth is 22 days. A couple of stretches achieved that mark. The first 22 day string was from January 17th through February 7th 1936. The second was from January 10th through January 31st 1963. Low temperatures are forecasted below zero at Duluth through Monday night, thus the record  would be tied at that time

Interesting post Marco, thanks!

Nice snowy morning around the Golden Horseshoe (though I'm sure some of the commuters aren't so keen!): http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/compass/camera/camhome1.shtml 

I'm sure Stewart will be around later to update us on conditions on the ground!

Hi folks, here's some pics of the storm so far :

GO Transit bus station 

GO Transit Mimico Parking Lot

Linc access closed in Hamilton due to high number of fender-benders and ditch incidents this afternoon

Snowbanks in Kitchener, Ontario this morning

The view from Yonge/Dundas this morning in Downtown Toronto #awesomepic

It's been some day out there. 15cm of snow unofficially out there just now, maybe another 5cm or so before it all stops. Some lake enhancement, but more so this time into Toronto believe it or not, the way the winds set up can be very fickle at times. Conditions on all the major highways are abismal, GO Transit taking 2hr delays on all bus services, and most train services have been altered. Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) running delayed service and delays too at YYZ & YHM. All garbage collection for Hamilton has been done for the day but Canada Post not delivering to some GTA addresses.

Current temp is -8c w/c -16c. More snow possible this weekend. Must have over a foot on the ground now, awaiting EC official estimates at dinnertime.

Take Care

^^^^^^ you git^^^

great pics

Thanks Stewart...EC have 24cm storm total for Hamilton through 4pm Eastern: http://weather.gc.ca/warnings/weathersummaries_e.html#ON 

Just seen some stats regarding Chicago's winter.

60" of snow so far - normally they'd expect 37" for the whole winter.

Number of successive days with at least 1" of snow on the ground = 38

Good stuff Tim, we had for the 8th time this morning a -20c reading at 5am. 'Normal' winter we'd be lucky to see 3 of them. Currently -12c w/c -22, a cold weather alert in place for most of the Lakeshore including the Niagara Escarpment. Some snow totals that i could find below for the local area :

Hamilton (YHM) 17.4cm

Hamilton Downtown 24cm

Dundas Lower 21cm

Dundas Mountain 23cm

Stoney Creek 22cm

The highest snowfall was actually recorded down in Niagara on the Pennisula at 29cm, so nearly a foot. A pretty good storm dwarfed really by the amount of snow events we've had this winter which makes us spoilt i guess. Despite my earlier thoughts on Toronto doing better out of this one, totals between many of the Toronto reporting stations and here were very similar, YYZ actually only got around 15cm.

Here's a pic from one of our friends streets we went visiting last night :

Probably over a ft of snow across most of the Hamilton Subdivisions. Very hard to measure accurately due to the layers of snow, different types of snow and ice also. The weekend's storm was a wet one, this stuff was that dry fluffy nature. But unofficially, i've got 37cm or so in the back yard and a snowbank of over 4ft to either side of the driveway.

I see it's even colder for once across the other side of Canada this morning. -31c in Banff a new record temp. 

Looking ahead to the weekend and a 60% chance of snow on Sunday for the GTA, this storm still one to watch, not expected to produce the amount or size of snowevent here, more so down into the states on the Eastern Seaboard this time.

Take Care

The Great Lakes are now 86% ice covered - the record is 94.7% in 1979, followed by 90.7% in 1994. 1977, 1978 and 1996 also had ice cover topping in the 80-90% range. Quite a contrast from last year which had a maximum coverage of 38.4%! It will be interesting to see if the coverage will beat 1994, or whether signs of slightly less cold/more unsettled weather coming up cap or reduce ice coverage over the next 10 days.

As mentioned in this and other threads there looks to be some very nasty weather in the southern US from an ice storm tonight, followed by another east coast snow storm on Thursday. 

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/ice-storm-begins-to-unfold-in/23186487

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/winter-storm-aims-for-northeast-thursday/23156019

Blimey, some depth of snow there

Upcoming ice storm in the SE U.S. described by the NWS as potentially 'catastrophic' for infrastructure with 0.5-1" of rain over a 12-15 hour period - the storm stretching from Atlanta up to Virginia. Then it will develop into a typical Nor' Easter. 

Not as catastrophic as the Delta ice storm of 1994 though, when they had between 2 and 6" of ice.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=1994_deltaicestorm-pictures

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26165335

Those jammy Septics continue to hoard winter for themselves. That looks a good weather system they're getting over there. Lucky buggers.

Here's the ice storm in 60 seconds: http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/02/12/pkg-orig-jql-southern-ice-storm-60-seconds.cnn.html Over 340,000 without power.

The storm is heading NE as a Nor'easter. Biggest snow totals (12-18"+) will likely be to the west of the big cities along the I-95. This one misses southern Ontario altogether and brushes Ottawa and Montreal with around 10cm of snow. Quebec City, eastern QC and western NB will be clobbered with anything from 20-50cm of snow.

Looks like a decent warm up is on the cards for much of the eastern half of the US and SE Canada by the middle of next week!