Entry tags:

climate, toronto, urban note, weather

[URBAN NOTE] The snow, the snow!
The predicted weekend snowstorm is definitely here, with a predicted snowfall of 30 centimetres. This might make the winter of 2007-2008 the snowiest since the winter of 1938-1939.

"I remember all the schools being closed and there was absolutely nothing moving at all," said McCulloch, 75, while having lunch at a Mississauga Legion hall on Lakeshore Rd. E. "My dad never went to work and everything came to a standstill. It was like a different world altogether."

It was the winter of 1938 and '39 – the snowiest winter on record for Toronto – when 207.4 centimetres fell at the airport throughout the season.

Weather experts think that with 178.6 centimetres collected already, this winter might be on its way to breaking that record.

"We have a lot of March left to go that is going to be a little chillier than normal, so even a few more lighter snowfalls could be enough to take us over the record," said Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.

The Christian Science Monitor is right to point out that this winter, as notable across North America as here in Toronto, doesn't by itself constitute an argument against the existence of global warming. Leave aside the climate models' predictions of wild swings. If it's snowing much more heavily, after all, where did all the extra water vapour for the snow come from?