Toronto’s latest dose of cold feels kind of unfair for April, after a wintry start to the week dragged temperatures down to a forecast high of just 2 C on Tuesday, with a low of -5 C overnight. Thankfully, this stretch doesn’t look like it’ll overstay its welcome! Toronto is expected to climb back into double digits weather this Thursday, April 9, with a high of 18 C. And soon (but maybe not soon enough), the city will finally warm up for good.
Still, because it’s Toronto in April, this warm rebound will be a bit all over the place. Friday is expected to dip back down to 5 C with a 60 per cent chance of rain or snow, before temperatures rise again to 12 C on Saturday, 13 C on Sunday and 19 C on Monday.
With seasonal norms for this stretch sitting at about 10 C for the daytime high and 2 C for the overnight low, the weekend should finally feel a bit more in line with what mid-April in Toronto is supposed to be.
Beyond this week, spring temps will run a bit cooler and wetter than usual. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac’s 60-day outlook for Toronto, April will have a run of showers, sunnier breaks and a bit of a chill, with “showers, then sunny and cold” from April 9 to 15, followed by “rain and snow showers, then sunny and chilly” from April 16 to 25, and “a few showers and cool” to close out the month. The Almanac’s monthly summary predicts April will average about 5 C overall in Toronto, which is 1 C below normal, with 75 mm of precipitation, or about 5 mm above average.
May looks somewhat milder, starting off cool with some sun and showers before turning warmer later in the month, including the chance of scattered thunderstorms. The Almanac estimates May will average 11 C overall, which is also 1 C below normal, with 90 mm of precipitation.
In the Almanac’s 12-month outlook, summer looks like it’ll be slightly cooler than normal in the east and warmer in the west, with the hottest periods in late June and early July and above-normal precipitation overall.
The longer-range Toronto outlook doesn’t necessarily mean the year will be cool overall, at least globally! In January, Environment and Climate Change Canada said 2026 is likely to rank among the hottest years on record globally, with the global mean temperature projected to land between 1.35 C and 1.53 C above pre-industrial levels, with a 12 per cent chance of exceeding 1.5 C in a single year. The department also said that the 2026 to 2030 period is expected to be the hottest five-year stretch on record. We’ll just have to deal with some local weather mood swings in the meantime.
