The GFS 6z has 499 dam/ -21c 850s for Toronto for New Year's Day. Ouch. That's almost as nasty as last winter...

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Well this is some brutal cold air moving into the US in time for New Year . Cold right into the Florida Panhandle too. -20C uppers as far south as Alabama and Mississippi.

 

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Merry Christmas to everyone on TWO and especially the regulars on this thread.

A dank cold grey but no snow christmas for Southern Ontario, some change from 12 months ago! Currently 3c at 0730 chance of the odd wintery flurry which might make it statistically a white xmas here. Big changes to come around the corner into next week though as posted above, major cold potential into the new year.

Have a brilliant day folks

Merry Christmas to all the regulars on this thread!

Glad you got some snow on the big day, Gandalf. As reported some incredible mild temps in eastern Canada, breaking Christmas Day temperature records. Among them:

Charlottetown, PEI +13.8c
Greenwood, NS +18.5c
Halifax Intnl, NS +16.6c
Moncton, NB +15.6c

The warmth won't last though, by New Year it will be much colder over central and eastern Canada and the US!

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My uncle in Toronto is happy that there no white Christmas this year but won't be pleased to know that it will get very cold on the way there.  We weren't able to move to Toronto in 2012 or 2013 because the Canadian Government removed the Legal section at Federal Skilled worker job requirements which my wife is fully qualified.  Now they need Electronics workers which I am qualified since I used to work in Electronics for 11 years before working with Royal Mail, this will appear next month so I will look into it if I can apply again so I can able to work, have a bigger place primary to do my online business from the basement with big space to do it and be near to my relatives to grow old with.  If only any Government realised that online business is booming and growing they would had make a new immigration offering for people doing online business at home and pay tax to them which any government would get more money from it than welcoming bad people without any mean to work and end up doing crime or taking benefits.

Been mild from mid-west to eastern coast of both USA and Canada +10c in Chicago today, +11c in Toronto and a balmy +14c in NYC. Even in Boston it has been unseasonably mild at +11c.

I guess this could be because the UK is having a more seasonably cooler spell. - From my own observation, usually this is the case ...when we (UK) are colder, the eastern seaboard of USA/CANADA is milder and when they are colder we are milder - This was the case last Christmas. Anyone notice this!?

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Yes back in Feb 1991 it was very mild there which I think 21C was reached somewhere in NY State.

Yes - yet when we were freezing! - I am sure you have seen this before:

http://youtu.be/Hd6DuebHliY

9/10 it is usually the case though - colder eastern seaboard of USA/Canada denotes milder western Europe and colder western Europe denotes milder eastern seaboard of USA/CANADA.

For instance today - London was colder than both Montreal and Quebec.

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Brett Anderson's Monthly outlook:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/anderson/arctic-air-aims-west-and-long-range-update/39674134 

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I think most folks in southern Canada would take regular shots of Arctic air over the locked in cold they had to put up with last winter. Looks like a pretty typical winter pattern - but time will tell.

Certainly Arctic air has moved back into the Prairies with highs forecast to be in the mid -20s for the next day or two. This airmass (modified of course) will move into eastern Canada in the next day or two with high temps restricted to the negative mid single digits for Hamilton/Toronto through to the negative mid teens for Quebec City. It will feel much more like winter after the recent anomalous warmth!

Colder conditions will even reach coastal BC with Vancouver likely to see a few days with High temps around freezing in the week ahead.

 

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Happy New Year to all of the regulars on this thread!

2015 has got off to an interesting start as the storm that gave some snow to the Desert SW and parts of California moves NEwards towards the Great Lakes. The track is not conducive to a snowstorm for Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe, it's too far to the west and north. There will be snow for Ottawa and Montreal and here freezing rain may be an issue for several hours at least before a switch to all rain. Parts of central Ontario and Quebec will see all snow as will regions further west, Northern Michigan and back through Wisconsin. Chicago will probably see a wintry mix.

After the storm passes through Arctic air follows with some very cold conditions likely through much of the Midwest, Prairies, Great Lakes and eastwards next week. Latest GFS has Toronto with 490 dam and -28c 850s by next Thursday. Even if it's not quite that cold it will certainly be a shock after fairly benign and relatively mild December!

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One of my Mum's cousins lives in Wildomar, about 50-60 miles south east of Downtown Los Angeles - roughly equidistant from there and Palm Springs. This is part of the "Inland Empire" as it is known, effectively desert, and is renowned for not getting much rain. She is 430 metres above sea level, which for there is not particularly high up.

And yet, on New Year's Day, she woke up to this:

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Yep, and snow reported on palm trees in the San Diego suburbs.

Snow close to Vegas (metro) too. Got caught out in a 4" fall outside the casinos a few years back.

Cold is not as rare in the Great Basin and high desert as the media makes out. Las Vegas gets frost every Winter some of them quite sharp, but the cold is never usually prolonged. There have been occasions in the past when there has been more prolonged cold spells like 1979, 1990 and 1998. Snow is quite rare though but one day in 1979 brought over 6 inches of snow to the downtown area. December 1990 was a rather prolonged cold spell of weather when it got down to -12C in Vegas below.

http://classic.wunderground.com/history/airport/KLAS/1990/12/23/DailyHistory.html

 

 

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Happy new year to all on TWO and the regulars in this thread. The holidays this year fairly quiet for us, no overseas trips or family visits just the close family in Hamilton this time around. The weather was also quiet, no polar vortex or blizzards just very benign normal winter weather without the snow!

Big news really as we have entered 2015 was the cold returned for a few days with temps between -2 and -6 by day the last couple of days ahead of a winter storm which shouldn't impact the GTA or the Lakeshore that much as Graeme posted earlier it's more an Ottawa/Montreal event but we could see some snow as the system spreads in, main impact will be on travel to/from Toronto from further afield as places further South and West in both Ontario and the U.P. of Michigan will be impacted harder with snow from this.

Will try and grab a minute or two to post and update tomorrow, going forward after the storm cold air filters back in but no real sign at the minute of a snowy pattern setting up this winter.

Have a great weekend everyone

Good afternoon all from a wintery Dundas, this is the scene currently on the approaches to Toronto union station :

You can just about make out the GO Train there through the increasingly heavy snow, shame it won't last as it's already turned to ice pellets/freezing rain here and dewpoints and temps will only climb as the afternoon goes on. Most of the GTA under a Freezing Rain warning at this hour, for Hamilton could mean 2-3 hrs of freezing rain which will cause some headaches.

Rain later, 10-15mm of it before colder air again tomorrow filters in. Much Much colder air, the coldest of the winter so far forecast for Tue-Thurs next week, current high for Wed is a bonechilling -12c.

Some deep cold sweeping in across the mid-west and Lakes from tomorrow.

The lake-effect machine will be in operation next week I would think.

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Hi folks, quick update on the cold.

Temps got down to -13c on Wed as a daytime high, w/c values of -25 was just brutal out, nothing more to say. Both Toronto and Hamilton had severe cold weather alerts in place for three days from Monday only canx this morning due to the wind dropping away. Outside in those temps and exposed skin for anything over 10mins has major issues.

It's currently -11c in a snow shower as i look outside. EC calling for 5cm later this afternoon into the evening which will add to the very wintery feel all of a sudden the GTA feels like January!. All we need is a big storm to bring things along nicely  nothing in the horizon for that though just yet, temps remain well below freezing into next week with further flurry activity.

Take Care