# weather



## d3nv3r (Aug 26, 2015)

Hi guys

I'm hoping to move to Toronto area in the next few years with my young family. 
Just wondering about getting to and from work/schools in winter time!!
Is it very difficult or something people just get on with??
Thanks in advance.
Den


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

Do you think that everything shuts down in Toronto when winter comes? Of course not. Life goes on and everything is designed, constructed to deal with a Canadian winter. If one doesn't get on with it then the next step would be cutting one's throat.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission which operate the bus and Toronto's equivalent to the Tube) isn't much different than TFL and the London Underground in the winter. 

The main thing I'd like to warn you of is just how bone-chillingly cold it can get in the winter.

My husband and I were in Toronto over Christmas/New Year and the day that we returned to the UK, the air temperature was -13°C but when you add in the wind chill, the temperature dropped to -22°C... this was during the day.


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## d3nv3r (Aug 26, 2015)

I know the people just keep going and traffic still moves along. 
Just asking is it as simple to get around as the summer months?
Just back from Toronto few weeks ago but we want to try it in the winter before deciding to move!!
All answers welcome just getting as much info as possible.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

The infrastructure on the TTC is actually pretty good... we took the subway from the Air Canada Centre up to my brother's place several times as well as the streetcar out to Spadina Avenue for dim sum, and while it was cold out (even in the subway stations), everything was running as expected.


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## d3nv3r (Aug 26, 2015)

I had a car hired for 18 days and found driving around no problems even in downtown Toronto! Just wondering if all roads are cleared of snow or is ttc n go the best way of getting around in winter?
Have a lot of questions for you guys on here!! Lol.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

Yes, the roads are cleared on a regular basis during the winter. My uncle drove us out to Niagara Falls one afternoon (when it was snowing) while we were there, and while the road conditions were slippery, the sand and salt trucks were out making sure that the major routes (like the 401/Gardiner Expressway) were safe to drive on.

All of that said... if you were to live close to the subway, I'd say that you'd be better off taking that than trying to drive your car into downtown Toronto, especially if there is black ice on the roadways... why risk having to play bumper-cars on the road when you can take an over-crowded bus/streetcar/subway car to where you need to go...


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

Many people install winter tires (tyres to you) for the winter period. These tires have treads specially designed for snow to provide much better grip on the snow. Black ice is an infrequent occurrence but it happens, and requires close attention. 
Toronto is in, what's known as, the Banana Belt which means it gets a lot less snow than, say a radius of 15-20 miles from the lake. Last winter was much more severe than normal so hopefully this winter will be back to normal.


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## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

I grew up in Toronto. First let me say that winter is only one of 4 seasons and all 4 seasons are distinct, unlike in Ireland and the UK where having lived there too, I consider there to be only grey and more grey. So don't just concentrate on winter as part of your decision of whether to emmigrate (if you can qualify) or not.

The weather in Toronto taken on average all year round is better than you now enjoy. There is a real summer which means there comes a day each year when you switch to shorts and t-shirts and do not need to put on long pants, long sleeves or socks for several months. That is the definition of a real summer, not one good day or one good week that is t-shirt weather as is the norm in your part of the world.

Spring comes later in Toronto than you are used to and sometimes we tend to think it is never going to arrive but it always does. Cold nights fade away and daytime temperatures begin to stay in the mid teens rather than fluctuating up and down from day to day.

Many people consider Fall (autumn) the best time of year of all. It offically arrives on September 21 although it may not really start to cool down until October. The leaves turn colour on the trees and you have never seen anything like them if it is a good year with the right conditions for it. Raking leaves from your lawn, driving down streets decorated with pumpkins and corn stalks, enjoying an Indian summer week, these are all part of the Fall.

Winter means some bad driving for people who have to drive to work. Not every day but on a few days. Generally, Toronto gets 3 or 4 bigger storms every winter. Those are the only 3 or 4 days when it's a real problem. For the vast majority of days, driving to work is no different than any other day of the year. The temperature outside may be cold but unless you happen to work at an outdoor job, you hardly notice.

Places like Vancouver have more trouble when it snows than Toronto does. Toronto spends $85 million on snow removal per year. Vancouver spends $2 million. Vancouver gets rain rather than snow so their needs are different but the point is that it isn't how much snow you get, it is how well equipped a city/town is to deal with it.

Watch this video of snow clearing across the 401 in Toronto. Don't stop watching until you see the first cars appear behind the plows. Count how many plows pass. 





You go from heated home to heated car to heated office to heated stores, etc. Why would the temperature bother you at all? The average person does not walk around in the cold complaining about it. We leave that to the ignorant who have no knowledge of what they are talking about. We just sit in our igloos and ignore it all.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

d3nv3r said:


> Hi guys
> 
> I'm hoping to move to Toronto area in the next few years with my young family.
> Just wondering about getting to and from work/schools in winter time!!
> ...



We are used to winter weather here so we just get on with things. It is not like the UK where the country shuts down over 2cm of snow.

Hell, here they will plow the streets for the first couple of snowfalls but that is just to get their gear running optimally again after the summer layoff. After that they don't officially plow the roads unless there is a minimum of 2-3cm on a highway, 5cm on a major road, and 8cm on secondary or residential streets. They will get around to it and they will eventually plow the roads but if there is just 2-3cm on a residential street, for example, they won't be rushing out to do it - and we get along just fine.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

WestCoastCanadianGirl said:


> The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission which operate the bus and Toronto's equivalent to the Tube) isn't much different than TFL and the London Underground in the winter.


Except that the services keep running and they don't shut down rail networks over 2cm of snow.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

d3nv3r said:


> Just asking is it as simple to get around as the summer months?


Of course not, but it is still easy to do.





Auld Yin said:


> Many people install winter tires (tyres to you) for the winter period. These tires have treads specially designed for snow to provide much better grip on the snow.



Many of us get by perfectly well with just a set of good all season tires. I've never put winter tires on my car in my life and have no problems. That being said, a recent immigrant who has no experience of driving in the snow here should definitely put them on.





> Toronto is in, what's known as, the Banana Belt which means it gets a lot less snow than, say a radius of 15-20 miles from the lake. Last winter was much more severe than normal so hopefully this winter will be back to normal.



Toronto is not in the Banana Belt. The Banana Belt is the Niagara Peninsula and down in the Windsor and Essex County area.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

OldPro said:


> You go from heated home to heated car to heated office to heated stores, etc. Why would the temperature bother you at all? The average person does not walk around in the cold complaining about it. We leave that to the ignorant who have no knowledge of what they are talking about. We just sit in our igloos and ignore it all.



I put a jacket and gloves on the back seat of my car every November and remove them every April. Despite that, I cannot remember the last time that I actually put that jacket on - and I am not a fan of the cold!


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## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

I happen to live in the Banana Belt near Chatham. We do indeed get less snow and it is sometimes strange. If you look at a map and draw a line from Goderich on Lake Huron to London, the Banana Belt is below that line along Lake Erie. Goderich and London can see a foot of snow and we only see 2 inches sometimes. I go out in the morning, don't even have enough snow in the driveway to bother with removing and then drive half an hour along the highway and drive into an area where they had a foot of snow in the night. 

Nice little description here: Journey to Canada’s ‘banana belt’ : Richard McGuire Photo

Even so, living in a small town and so sometimes on relatively untravelled roads, I carry a bit more than colchar does in the back of my car. I have a plastic container with a fold-up snow shovel, sleeping bag, gloves, hat, candles and a few other things in it that I put in the car at the first snow fall and take out in the spring. Here is a good example:
How to Make a Winter Survival Kit 

Like colchar, I've never had to use any of that at all but having them in the car is just smart outside of a city. As is having the right equipment for an emergency in any car, in any country.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

Another secret is to stick a couple of pizza boxes in your trunk. If you get stuck in snow they can be placed under the tires (assuming a front wheel drive car they would be placed in front of the tire if trying to drive forward and behind the tire if trying to reverse) and they should provide enough traction to get you unstuck. If they are placed behind the tires just make sure nobody is standing in front of the car as you reverse because they can come out like a rocket if you give the car enough gas.


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## OldPro (Feb 18, 2015)

Hah, we could make a list of 'must haves' for different places in different seasons.

In Toronto, always carry a spare pair of sunglasses in your car in the summer.
In Vancouver, always carry a spare umbrella in your car in the summer.


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## smccarthy (Aug 10, 2015)

OldPro said:


> Hah, we could make a list of 'must haves' for different places in different seasons.
> 
> In Toronto, always carry a spare pair of sunglasses in your car in the summer.
> In Vancouver, always carry a spare umbrella in your car in the summer.


In St. John's, always carry your winter gear because you just don't know what season you'll be experiencing.

I've only ever heard of the TTC Subway shutting down once in the past few years and that was due to a major rainstorm in July 2013 and the tunnels flooded. Even when that happens, they have a back-up plan utilizing buses. Toronto is a great place to move; my only shock was on my first trip there - the air wasn't as clean as it is in St. John's but the size, population and industry difference obviously account for that.


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