Winds Will Replace Wet As GTA Sets New Rainfall Record
Posted April 3, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
If you weren’t crazy about the deluge that hit the GTA on the last day of your work week, you’ll hate what’s coming next.
Toronto officially set a new rainfall record on Friday, as a disturbance from Oklahoma made its way into the area around midnight, producing a drenching downpour.
While the precipitation was heavy at times across the province, the worst of the wet will end around midnight. And while it was already difficult to keep your umbrella from turning over, it’s about to get worse.
The next part of this system is the winds, with gusts up to 70 kilometres an hour making things even more miserable. They’ll continue to blow right through Saturday on what will be a gusty start to the weekend. The breezes won’t be damaging, but may be strong enough to bring down some trees and possibly power lines.
All this follows a day of record rainfall that easily beat the existing April 3rd mark of 20.8 millimetres set at Pearson International Airport back in 1950. The same location was already up to 26.2 mm by 2pm and there was a lot more to come.
Oshawa and points east experienced the biggest washout. Some 41 mm of rain fell there by the afternoon. Milton also got soaked with 34 mm on the ground by the rush home. But some areas were spared. Residents in Port Credit were dealing with just over 15 mm.
It’s the second record breaking wet spell in less than a week. On Sunday, the city was splashed by 22.8 mm, almost double the old record established 58 years ago.
The storm created slow driving conditions during both the morning and afternoon commute, with traffic slowed to a crawl by the conditions.
But you didn’t have to be in your car to be having problems coping with the weather. Huge puddles formed all over the city and pedestrians were forced to perform the usual nimble moves to try and avoid them – along with the super soaker splashes from cars going too fast by the sidewalks.
The rain prompted the Toronto Region and Conservation Authority to issue a high water bulletin for the city, warning parents to keep kids and pets away from rivers and streams because of the rapidly rising H20. It remains in effect until Sunday.
The downpour is also believed responsible for a sewer back-up that left a huge mess at Queen’s Quay and Leslie.
A major flood covers part of the parking lot of a supermarket at Queen’s Quay and Jarvis (below).
And at least one driver wound up in soggy shape, when his car went off the pavement and into a filled ditch at Midwest Road in Scarborough.
Photo by CityNews viewer Sam Stratigeas
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Bad as all this has been, the weekend won’t be a total washout. Sunday will be the best of the two days, with the return of sunshine and temperatures around the norm of 9C.
The rain’s a pain, but at least it goes down the drain. If this had been snow, we’d be digging out from 30 centimetres. And that dreaded word is back in the forecast.
Temperatures on Monday and Tuesday are only expected to be near the freezing mark, and there’s a good chance we could get some flurries.
It likely won’t accumulate but it’s a reminder that while winter is officially over, it’s not quite done with us yet. We should recover a bit by Wednesday, but it will stay cool, with the long range outlook calling for a daytime high of just 6C.
In fact, there’s no real warmth in the forecast until late next week.
