December 17, 2006
Still Dreaming of a White Christmas
Parents watch their kids toboggan in High Park on Christmas Day, 1910. Photo courtesy of William James/The Toronto Archives.
That little weather icon above our logo is starting to get pretty depressing. With 8 days left until Christmas, there's still no snow on the ground, and with the exception of the few centimeters that we had just over a week ago that quickly melted, there's barely been a speck in the sky since last winter. And, unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's going to get much better any time soon.
Torontonians new and old know one thing: snow is pretty great. For many international immigrants to our city, snow is that thing that they've heard about but never seen or felt or touched until arriving, while for born and bred Torontonians, it signals the official marker of the holiday season's arrival, the precise moment where it starts to feel like the holidays in our city.
So that's why the next few snow-free rainy weeks (so the forecasters say) hit us where it hurts. For one, the Weather Network's cute kids-oriented "What to Wear" feature (at right) -- a graphic on their school day forecast that recommends what clothing is appropriate to wear on any given day -- is killing us. A rain coat? Galoshes? A light jacket? Their Holiday Forecast, with its cruel juxtaposition of a snow-covered pine tree just above their rain-filled short-term forecast, is no better, and then there's their completely lonely-looking Ontario snow report.
As for Christmas, the long-term forecast is calling for a mix of light rain and sun for the next week, temperatures staying mostly above zero, while the 14 Day Trend suggests rain on Christmas Day. If memory serves correct, last year was more wet than white, too, which means that maybe nature's the real culprit responsible for that whole War on Christmas thing.
The Christmas that most Torontonians dream of -- the film-like feeling of waking up in a warm bed and opening the curtains to look out on a thick white sheet of snow gently set on top of our city -- may just have to remain a fantasy again this year. Still, with the rest of Toronto, we'll be keeping our fingers crossed. Our site's weather forecaster (powered not by The Weather Network, but Weather.com) is currently predicting some light snow on Tuesday, but maybe, just maybe, by "light snow," it just means "huge awesome blizzards for several weeks." We could definitely deal with that.
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Yes. A big awesome blizzard would warrant calling in the army, wouldn't it? A wonderful reason to bring our troops home.
It's almost as if the climate is....changing somehow.
That picture is vaguely creepy. Almost everyone is facing right, and they form these lines... It's sinister, I tells ya.
How much of the mildness for this winter can be blamed on worldwide climate change/global warming, Chris? I was more under the impression that the whole "destroying the environment" thing that we're doing is a slow but steady march towards destruction, not a quick jaunt into the apocalypse.
Bloody Hell. I am traveling 15,000km to visit home over the holidays. Is to too much to ask for a little snow? I need a fix.
What a beautiful spring day we had today!
climate change is already happening, and it is being recorded by many regions. new york's average winter temperatures have risen for the last 5 years in a row.
however, that is not the whole story: 2006 is an el niño year, meaning any hope of a "traditional" winter are effectively dashed
I didn't get the memo that all Torontonians are supposed to love snow. As an avid cyclist, I don't think "snow is pretty great", I don't "dream of" it and I certainly won't be "keeping my fingers crossed" for more of it.
Speak for yourself Torontoist!
How can someone live in Toronto and hate snow? Almost half the year, snow is all we get. Isn't that like living in the rainforest and hating the humidity?
Word, Heather. Why should I like snow? It's cold, wet and messy. It's grey or brown within hours of falling. Toronto hasn't figured out how to remove it properly. People slip. I have to shovel it. I LOVE this warm weather. Keep it up.
heather speaks the truth. david asks: How can someone live in Toronto and hate snow? i live in toronto. i don't hate snow per se - but i do indeed hate the "toronto-snow". i don't hate white fluffy blizzard snow. the kind you toboggan in. the kind you ski/snowbaord in. i - like many many many in toronto - hate that crap that toronto gets (at least the crap it quickly becomes). it isn't snow. its like anti-snow. its grey and dirty and salty.
i can't believe people are complaining about this warm weather! sure, it's kinda scary in a climate-change way, but being able to walk around in December in a light jacket with no gloves, no hat, with no grey/dirty/salty snow-like crap eating my shoes away is pretty damn nice!
Sing it, Tony!
Thanks peeps, it's nice to get a witness. More to the point, I thought it was really shitty journalism to presuppose that everyone shared the same opinion.
I know this article was just about snow but substitute any current issue from that slant and we might as well be reading the Calgary Sun.
Heather, this article is just about snow, so, "shitty journalism" aside, it is, quite literally, fluff, not some piece about something like gay marriage ("Torontonians young and old know one thing: gay marriage is pretty great") or Stephen Harper ("Torontonians young and old know one thing: Stephen Harper is pretty great"). It's snow. And people -- at least every single person I know -- seem to actually kinda like it.
Well, David, if you honestly like snow, I got one word for you: Alberta.