More snow and plummeting temperatures are on deck for Ontario as winter returns

There still isn’t any snow on the ground in cities like Toronto, but this winter is shaping up to be far more seasonal than last year’s in Southern Ontario, with below-freezing temperatures and a few dumps of the white stuff already behind us.

As we approach the holidays, the past few days have been rainy, overcast, relatively warm and not at all festive compared to last week, leading many to wonder what type of weather is in store for the remainder of 2024.

For those who’d like to see a white Christmas in the GTA, all hope is not yet lost, despite the lack of accumulation and wet conditions as of December 17.

As Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologists have told blogTO this month, it all comes down to the forecast in the week before the big day — which presently is calling for thermometers to drop once more, and the snow to return.

Areas north of the city are already looking like a winter wonderland, especially cottage country and Georgian Bay locales that were just walloped with blizzards, and it looks like Toronto will be getting its own dusting, too, in the coming days.

The Weather Network (TWN) is projecting temperatures around 0 C that will be “cold enough for wet flurries in the southern end of the province” starting Wednesday morning.

Though less than 1 cm of accumulation is expected in the city proper, other parts of the Toronto area moving north toward Barrie and east toward Hamilton, will be getting a tad more — TWN said in a blog post on Tuesday that both Toronto Pearson International Airport and “the northern GTA regions” will be getting a decent amount, with around 3 cm or less expected to stick.

Other parts of Southern Ontario will be in for a more substantial hit, with 3-5 cm expected around Barrie, Parry Sound, Bancroft and Ottawa, and even more in Huntsville and Gravenhurst, as well as Collingwood and some of the townships southwest of there — certainly good news for Blue Mountain and other local ski resorts.

“The week started off on a mild note in southern Ontario, but wintry weather will return to the region by Wednesday with another shot of snow and much colder temperatures for beyond, too,” the agency says, highlighting a weak system heading over the Great Lakes on Wednesday that will herald “some messy, snowy weather.”

“Snowfall chances, along with a noticeable temperature drop into the negative digits, will return to southern and eastern Ontario midweek, persisting into the weekend.”

The current forecast calls for a 70 per cent chance of around 1 cm of snow in Toronto on Wednesday with temps around 1 C, but feeling more like – 1 C. This will drop to below zero for the days to follow, with scattered flurries anticipated Thursday evening and continuing overnight into Friday.

The wintry precipitation will clear up Saturday, but with temps plunging to the minus double digits for the weekend (as bad as -25 C with the windchill at night), this could keep some flakes around.

The good (but cold) news continues on Christmas Eve, with flurries for most of the day and night and sub-zero temperatures that could mean a meagre blanketing of snow for Christmas Day.

The evening of the 25th, though, it looks like this will transition into scattered showers due to temperatures hovering just over the 0 C mark. The official Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) forecast for the city is similar, though it only extends seven days, anticipating snow this Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.