January showers probably won't bring spring flowers but rain and warmer than normal winter temperatures continue to confuse Torontonians.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail
Before the sun even rose, Toronto had set a new warm weather record on Wednesday.
By 7 a.m., the temperature exceeded the previous record high for Jan. 30 of 9.1 C, set in 2006.
"It is very unusual and we could get to 14, which would literally smash the previous record – I mean not even close," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.
For the sake of comparison, 14 C is a normal daytime high in late April or early May and a typical comfortable overnight temperature in July.
"The look of winter has just disappeared before our eyes, with that rain and also with these warm temperatures," Mr. Phillips said.
The normal high temperature for Jan. 30 in Canada's largest city is -2 C.
However, the balmy, wet weather is only a brief respite. Temperatures are expected to dip to a high of only -3 C with a chance of snow on Thursday.
The record high temperature for all of January in Toronto is 17.6 C, which was set on Jan. 13, 2005.
Jill Mahoney