Toronto, GTA sees record rainfall during messy morning commute

A special weather statement that blanked the GTA has now been lifted in most areas after record rainfall disrupted Friday morning’s commute.

Environment Canada had warned of 15 to 25 mm that could fall in the city from Thursday evening through to late Friday morning. The wet weather and patchy fog made for a tricky morning drive and the weather agency advised of “flooding and ponding in some areas that aren’t properly drained.”

Toronto has already unofficially broken a rainfall record for Jan. 26, set nearly 50 years ago when 16.3 mm of rain fell in 1974. The Ontario Storm Prediction Centre in North York had recorded 19.8 mm as of 9 a.m. Friday.

Several callers to the CityNews 680 traffic centre reported pooling on major highways during the morning commute, including a particular dodgy spot in the southbound lanes of Highway 400 near Sheppard Avenue.

“The southbound 400 is really bad, with heavy flooding in the right lanes and left lanes,” says traffic reporter Jordan Kerr.

The same special weather statement was in place for other areas outside of the GTA, including Hamilton, Waterloo-Wellington and Dufferin-Innisfil. Areas north and east of the city, such as Belleville and Peterborough, were at risk of experiencing freezing rain with icy conditions.

Once the rain moves out, Taylor says it will be cloudy with a guaranteed high of 4 C. More showers and fog is possible heading into the evening.

The light rain will taper off early Saturday, with mainly cloudy skies and a daytime high of 4 C expected. A round of mixed precipitation with some light snow could arrive on Sunday as temperatures dip slightly to a high of 2 C.

“This moisture train just continues to ride over us,” says Taylor. “Definitely a very active storm track up until Sunday.”

Taylor says Toronto could finally see some sunshine on Monday to kick off next week.

For details on the short-term and extended forecast, visit here.