Spring-like weather starts the week, police hope for safer week on roads
Posted March 9, 2015 5:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Sure, it’s Monday, and you’re down an hour of sleep, but the forecast is sure to perk you up.
The forecast calls for mainly sunny skies and a high of 6 C, 680News meteorologist Jill Taylor said. Click here for the forecast.
The last time Toronto Pearson hit 6 C was on Jan. 18, and a record temperature for March 9 was 21.4 set in 2000.
“We aren’t seeing the dramatic warm-ups that we can get at this time of year as winter battles spring, but I don’t think anyone will complain about 6 C,” Taylor said.
Taylor said there is still a lot of snow of ice that can affect how high the temperature goes, so some areas may get warmer than 6 C.
However, it looks like the GTA is in for a cool down again at the end of next week, in time for the start of spring, Taylor said, but “likely not the extreme cold we’ve had this winter.”
The Toronto-issued extreme cold weather alerts have covered 37 days in the city this year — one more than last year.
Spring officially arrives on March 20 at 6:45 p.m.
Road safety after time change
Meanwhile, police are hoping for a safer week on the roads now that we’ve gained an extra hour of daylight. The time change to Daylight Saving Time occurred at 2 a.m. on Sunday.
However, a new University of Colorado study found an increase in the number of fatal crashes in the first six days after the clocks spring ahead. The study found a 17 per cent increase on traffic fatalities on the Monday after the time shift.
Researchers said the loss of an hour of sleep causes significant disruption in the body’s sleep cycle resulting in drivers feeling drowsy and not as alert.
In Toronto, Const. Clint Stibbe with Traffic Service told the Toronto Star that drivers will have more visibility with the extra hour of daylight, so hopefully, fewer crashes.
Last week, 15 pedestrians were struck by vehicles, five of them fatal.
Last week, Stibbe told CityNews that over the last couple years collisions and pedestrians struck actually decreased the week after the time change. It’s usually the week before the time change that police see a rise in collisions and pedestrian incidents.
