Torontoist » winter

Scene: The Coldest Day of the Year Bike Ride

Monday's "Coldest Day of the Year Ride" was neither very cold nor very long, but it was fairly well attended.

We hopped on a Bixi bike yesterday to head to City Hall for the the Bike Union-organized Coldest Day of the Year Ride—on a day when the temperature wasn’t very cold for a Canadian winter at all. Even before we arrived, we were reveling in the fact that we wouldn’t have to “dock” the Bixi [...]

Freshness in Frosty Times

Toronto green thumbs share their winter gardening tips

As we, the people of Toronto, start to bury our faces in our scarves and huddle a little closer together in bus shelters, one crowd remains admirably unfazed by the winter—our gardeners. Toronto’s gardeners refuse to let any temperature stop their sprouting ventures and often welcome the change in season with gusto. These courageous folks [...]

Spotted: Packing Up Garden Car

SPOTTED BY: Dean Perlmutter WHERE: Kensington Market WHEN: 9:23 a.m. WHAT: One sure sign that winter is on its way: the annual packing up of the Garden Car. Each year it gets stored over the colder months, but fret not, for it shall be reinstalled come spring. As summarized by Kensington BIA coordinator Yvonne Bambrick: [...]

The Urbanaut: Climb Every Mountain

Every few weeks, Torontoist receives transmissions from the travel log of Gleebax, the alien Urbanaut, as he explores the foreign land of Toronto.

Scene: Winter Wonderland

Photo by louise@toronto from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. WHERE: Queen Street East WHEN: The morning of Saturday, January 8, 2011. WHAT: It’s winter! Finally, a proper snowfall that coated the city overnight, and is still drifting in a bit as we type. Enjoy the toboganning!

That Time It Snowed a Bit After a Day It Didn’t Snow, in Photos

Remember Sunday, when it was warm, and it didn’t snow? But then do you remember Monday, when it was not warm, and when it did snow a little bit? Crazy. There was something of an intense and intermittently very pretty snowstorm yesterday, which would have been business as usual were it not for the “snow [...]

Toronto Man Invents Wind-Resistant “Bra” for Bike Handlebars

Hamish Greenland modelling his invention, the Barbra. When we saw a flyer on a utility pole advertising the Barbra, we knew we had to find out more about it. Earlier this week, finally riding our bike with a sample Barbra on our handlebars, we discovered that we were a little self-conscious: first, because none of [...]

Grenadier Pond’s an Ice Place To Be

Approach Grenadier Pond in High Park from any direction and you are met by bright yellow signs telling you: “Danger. Ice Unsafe. Keep off.” Look past these signs—which indemnify the City of responsibility for your safety—and you’ll see dozens of people walking their dogs, skating on the many icy paths running the length of the [...]

Salting the Earth

Toronto uses over 135,000 tonnes of road salt each year. Photo by BruceK from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. After an extended fall, Toronto is finally in the grips of the cold season. And like every winter before, the city’s streets are beginning to look like chalk boards as they become blanketed with road salt. Can [...]

A Cold Morning on Lake Ontario

Before the sun rose last Saturday, Torontoist photographer Miles Storey took the day’s first ferry out to Ward’s Island. He knew, he says, “that the temperature had fallen drastically overnight and that mist would be steaming off the water,” and he recorded the three short video clips above “on the south side of the island [...]

Historicist: Sailing Faster Than the Wind

Every Saturday at noon, Historicist looks back at the events, places, and characters—good and bad—that have shaped Toronto into the city we know today. Photo of iceboating on Toronto Bay by John Boyd Sr., December 30, 1924. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1548, Series 393, Item 19456. For as long as Toronto has been settled, [...]

PhotoTO: Lake Hockey

Photo by Miles Storey/Torontoist Looking back at Toronto’s skyline from Algonquin Island with the ultimate backyard rink in the foreground.