Going To Extremes: The Bizarre Winter Of 2008-2009
Posted March 20, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You may have been getting ready for work when it happened. Or if you were lucky enough, you slept right through it. But at precisely 7:44am Friday, the long hard winter of 2008-09 mercifully came to an end, ushering in the start of spring.
Every winter in the GTA seems to have its own ‘personality,’ and this one was no exception. It was marked by a snowy January, a rainy February and endless fluctuations between extreme cold and unusual warmth.
That continuous roller coaster effect resulted in more potholes than usual on city streets and more water main breaks turning roads into icy lakes, as pipes burst in the unrelenting cold.
With apologies to the Grateful Dead, what a long strange trip it’s been as we were truckin’ into spring.
Here’s a look back at the winter that’s now a thing of the past.
Dec. 21: Winter Arrives With A Vengeance
The snow and the cold came early in the fall and kept on coming as winter officially made its debut at 7:04am on December 21st. And as if we needed a preview of what was to come, we got almost 15 centimetres of snow, blown around by 70 kilometre an hour winds, with bitter wind chills, white-outs on some roads and more than 80 accidents. And that was on a Sunday. Officials were well aware if it happened during a normal rush hour, things could have been even worse.
It was a preview of things to come.
Dec. 23: The Next Wave
The third big storm in five days led to a snowfall warning for parts of the GTA, and this one had a little bit of everything – rain, freezing rain, flakes, and even ice pellets. There were scores of accidents as another 10-15 centimetres added to what had already come down in the late fall.
And for the first time, we began to see that weird yo-yo effect that would become the recurring theme this year, as temperatures soared the next day to an unseasonably warm 6.1C, then plummeted again on Christmas Eve, leading to a flash freeze warning on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Dec. 27: The Big Change Is A Record Breaker
The first of several record breaking winter temperatures takes place 24 hours after Boxing Day, when readings soaring to a new all-time high of 14C, a 30-degree swing in less than a week. The GTA is closing in one of the soggiest Decembers in history, but the cold will soon make a very unwelcome return.
Dec. 28: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Our winter reprieve was short. Just one day after smashing a temperature mark that had stood for 59 years, southern Ontario receives a blast of reality. A cold front blows in and with winds gusting up to 100 kilometres an hour, winter returns in a hurry. The breezes are so bad, officials are forced to close the Burlington Skyway, because it’s no longer safe to drive on.
And things weren’t much better in the city. A huge tree came smashing down on a service station near College and Crawford, while another one fell on a house in Oakville while the residents were sleeping inside. “It came right through the bedroom, over top of the bed, it was pretty traumatic I’ll tell ya,” the homeowner confessed.
Thousands were left without power as hydro lines and tree limbs both came crashing down. “This one was a bad one,” admitted Toronto Hydro’s Blair Peberdy. “We had to bring out a lot of extra crews.”
And we were getting off easy. While Toronto residents got their power back on within about 24 hours, residents in other parts of the province were told it would take days for their juice to come back.
It would not be the last time GTA residents would be left in the cold and dark because of winter’s worst.
Dec. 31: Big Chill For A Big New Year’s Bash
Champagne wasn’t the only thing being chilled on New Year’s Eve. By the time thousands gathered for Citytv’s traditional gala at Nathan Phillips Square, it was beyond cold. Temperatures of -10C felt even worse with the wind, and the city called its first extreme cold weather alert of 2009. There would be many more to come, including a second one just four days later.
Jan. 7: Snow And More Snow
Remember February of 2008, when it seemed like we got whacked with a huge amount of snow every three days? In 2009, the trend happened a month earlier, with the first of several huge storms leaving more mountainous snow piles across the city and weary residents sick of shovelling.
The snow started at 10pm the night before and didn’t stop until around 6pm the next evening. By the time it turned to rain, there was at least 10 cm on the ground in places and driving was a mess.
Jan. 10: The Big Chill And The Big Snow, Part II
The city’s second extreme cold weather alert of the year saw readings plunge to a bone chilling -11C, without the wind chill, unseasonable even for January. By the next day, there was another 10 cm on the ground, leading to flight cancellations at Pearson International Airport and trouble on the roads.
Jan 13: A 20 Degree Difference
The roller coaster ride continues, with temperatures plunging 20 degrees in less than 12 hours. A pleasant morning of melting gives way to a freezing afternoon, as roads and sidewalks freeze with the swift advance of a cold front. By the time it arrived, our third extreme cold weather alert of the year is proclaimed and pedestrians and drivers alike are slip sliding away on the roads and sidewalks.
Wind chills over the next few days would feature some of the coldest conditions of the winter, with -32 by the end of the week.
Jan. 15: 20 Water Main Breaks In One Day
The extreme cold was playing havoc with Toronto’s aging infrastructure and the city’s phones were ringing off the hook with reports of water main breaks everywhere. There were 20 of them in one day alone, and the liquid was freezing quickly in the brutal conditions.
It was so cold, even the city’s solar-powered parking meters went on the fritz, proving that there are some good things about winter.
Jan.16: Where Were You When The Lights Went Out?
You couldn’t pick a worse time for a power failure. With the GTA in the midst of the coldest temperatures in over a decade, the lights went out over a wide area of Toronto, leaving thousands in the cold and dark.
The black hole in west end Toronto, as seen from the CityNews Eyes of Toronto on top of the CN Tower
The city was forced to open ‘warming centres’, where people could take their kids and their pets to find some shelter from the unrelenting chill. Many were without power for up to 24 hours, as crews tried to fix the problem, caused by a flood in a Dufferin St. hydro substation.
Residents shivered in an area bounded by St. Clair to the north, Queen St. to the south, Jane St. to the west and Spadina to the east. Many chose to stay bundled up in their houses, as temperatures outside neared -20C and readings on thermostats inside sunk to 4C.
It was the longest blackout to hit the GTA since August 2003, when a massive power failure knocked parts of the U.S. and Southern Ontario off the grid.
Another 15 cm of snow falls, adding to the huge piles that are already making it difficult for drivers to see around street corners. The Scarborough RT line is shut down for over four hours after the heavy snow blocked the power rail and the yard where the trains are stored.
There are the usual endless accidents, but at least it’s a Sunday, so there’s far less traffic.
Winter weary residents are spending part of their weekend out shovelling it all off their driveways again, with many grumbling there’s simply no place left to put it all.
Just two days after the latest big dump, comes the latest cold blast. With spring exactly two months away, the city goes back into the deep freeze. Wind chills maximize the misery, making it feel like -25 outside.
Temperatures finally moderate a bit, but it comes with a price. The sudden warm-up creates danger from above, as long and dagger-sharp icicles hanging off some downtown buildings force the closure of part of the sidewalk at Wellington and John Sts.
There are also concerns posted about similar knife-like points hanging over sections of Yonge and Richmond Sts.
A wind chill warning is briefly in effect as readings drop to -30 with the bitter breezes. By now, most people are complaining about the endless terrible weather, as another extreme cold weather alert is issued for the GTA. But at least one resident remains stoic. “Just get out and enjoy the city,” he suggests. “This is what we’re all about in Canada.”
Jan. 28: The Two Day Long Snowstorm
Just when many were convinced they couldn’t take any more winter comes this: a storm so massive, it took two days to get through the GTA. It started on a Tuesday night and didn’t stop until after the dinner hour the next day.
At least 12 cm more were added to what was already on the ground, and the city was already sitting at 115 cm of snow – the average for an entire winter is 125. And we weren’t even out of January yet.
The storm spanned two rush hours, with predictable results. Crashes on the 401 and the 427 tied up traffic. And there were too many fender benders and skid-related accidents to count. At one point 75 per cent of all OPP cruisers were reporting to the scene of an accident.
The storm finally passed but winter didn’t – yet another extreme cold weather alert would be called two days later.
A car hits one of the high snow banks on the 401 at the Allen and plunges down an embankment. It’s the end of a long January that has been even more brutal than the terrible winter a year earlier.
The average mean temperature for the month is -6.3C. But this year, it clocked in at -8.6C. We made it above zero just four times – and the highest on that occasion was only 1.1C.
There’s now been 121 cm of snow at Pearson International Airport. The total from last year’s snowstorm every three days scenario: 195 cm. The most we ever received is 207 cm set in the winter of 1938-39.
All the big groundhogs, including Wiarton Willie, Shubenacadie Sam, and Punxsutawney Phil see their shadows, traditionally meaning we’re in for six more weeks of winter.
If January was about snow and cold, February will be about the extremes between the two. Some of the coldest weather of the year settles into the GTA, with temperatures of -18C feeling more like -30 with the wind chill.
Two days later, it’s up to a record breaking 8C, shattering the mark of 5.7C set in 1990.
But it doesn’t last.
Two days after that, we’re back to freezing.
And then, incredibly, two days later, the thermometer bumps up again to 5C. “It looks like the trend is just that – up and down and all around,” confirms BT meterologist Frank Ferragine. “We go from cold to warm, warm to cold. No consistency.”
But at least there’s no snow.
It might have been the last thing you’d expect in February: a record rain storm. But as temperatures warmed up to a record high of 8C, it came, bringing about 25 millimetres with it and creating new concerns about flooding. Crews that would normally plow the roads were out clearing snow clogged catch basins, giving the piles of melting snow a place to drain.
But all that water had no place to go at Union Station, as the terminal was flooded and closed by a broken water main.
Amateur video captures Union Station subway flooding
As the rain moves out, another front blows in 60 kilometre an hour winds, with gusts to 90, which create havoc of their own. A toppled tree damages two cars in the Jane-Wilson area, just minutes before one of the owners was about to get inside one of the vehicles.
“When I opened the door I saw the tree on top of the house,” remembers Eugenio Commodari. “Nobody believed me. I say everybody start to laughing (sic). So when they came out, it was a surprise.”
A stone archway blew over on the same street, leaving shingles and cement everywhere.
And the wicked winds gave about 120,000 workers in five downtown office towers the day off, thanks to a weather-related power failure.
Feb. 13: More Rain, More Flooding
More heavy rains lead to flooding across the city, creating traffic headaches and even leaving a freight train stuck along the lines between River and Queen Sts. for a short time.
In the west end, one man found his vehicle flooded in a parking lot off Old Mill Rd. north of Bloor. He had to remove his shoes and walk in the cold water to reach his car. But his suffering didn’t end there. When he opened the door to his vehicle, he discovered it was filled with H20 up to the gas pedal, resulting in a major bailout.
This rainfall was another record breaker – 25.8 millimetres, the most for the day.
Things were wild north of the city, too, with waterlogged roads closed off in Vaughan and Newmarket.
But it was in New Hamburg near Kitchener, after the Nith River experienced some of the worst flooding the locals have ever witnessed in February. “This is wild, man,” Andrew Matka notes, shaking his head. “I have never seen anything like this. It’s pretty intense.”
After 10-15 cm of snow falls on the weekend, the GTA wakes to yet another extreme cold weather alert, with biting north-northwest winds making it feel like -20.
It’s another day of extreme weather in the GTA, as near record rains give way to a new temperature roller coaster. Readings plunged more than 20 degrees in less than 24 hours, taking many by surprise.
It was 9C at sunrise. An hour later a cold front moved in, knocking it down to just 5C. And it kept on going. By the afternoon, it was down to 1C and still falling. Within 24 hours, it was -15, with wind chills boosted by 70 kilometre an hour gusts that made it feel closer to -25.
So despite the balmy conditions earlier in the day, the city calls an extreme cold weather alert. It’s the ninth one since January.
March 3: Car Freezes To Driveway
Maybe nothing told the story of the long, cold winter better than this: water from yet another broken main caused by the extreme cold, engulfed a car in Scarborough, and froze the wheels to the driveway.
But at least the owner didn’t worry – he was in Jamaica on vacation at the time and had no idea that his vehicle was imprisoned in the ice.
It wouldn’t be long before that car was out of the ice jam – temperatures rebounded in a big way just three days later, with a new record high of 18C set at Pearson International Airport. It was positively summer-like for the first time in months, and thousands of GTA residents – some dressed in shorts and T-shirts – found their way outside, enjoying what they knew would be an all too brief respite from winter.
Five days later, they discovered they were right.
March 11: Cruel Reality Returns
Another wild 24 hours confirms the up-and-down trend of the year. It was 9C at 7am, and -9C by nightfall. As a new front set in, winds gusted up to 82 kilometres an hour and the temperatures plunged. A rare wind warning was issued for the city, with potentially damaging breezes leaving the locals back in their winter gear and wondering when it would end. Two days later, it did.
After a horrible winter of cold and snow, no one could have expected how it all ended. As March Break dawned, temperatures soared, sometimes into the double digits. It was a nearly perfect week to have off and those who couldn’t make the getaway to some tropical beach were enthralled by what they didn’t leave behind: solid sunshine and pleasant warm days.
Spring finally arrives at 7:44am, although it feels more like winter. But better temperatures are expected as the long hard winter finally ends.
There’s no real snow on the horizon in March, leading to one last anomaly for the season. We normally get about 19 cm of flakes in the month. This year, there’s hardly been any. Most are hoping it’s a sign of things to come, as they look forward to finally escaping one of the coldest and wettest winters on record.
