Winter has officially arrived and here's when Toronto can expect a deep freeze

Toronto’s record-breaking spell of mild temperatures leading up to the start of astronomic winter on December 21 has taken a white Christmas off the table, and has many locals wondering when and if the real cold season will take hold.

The next few days will be more of the same unseasonably warm temperatures, with a weekend forecast calling for a weak, low-pressure system bringing freezing rain to the Greater Toronto Area leading up to a grey and gloomy Christmas.

📢 A weak low pressure system will bring a chance of rain & snow, as well as a risk of freezing rain, to S ON Saturday into Sunday morning.
➡️ Risk of freezing rain for the Dundalk Highlands, parts of central ON and the GTA.

Your forecast 👉 https://t.co/YEj1Y5jZNn#ONwx pic.twitter.com/RikJE7hjC5

— ECCC Weather Ontario (@ECCCWeatherON) December 21, 2023

While meteorologists have hinted that this season’s El Niño system could cancel winter in western parts of the country, Ontario will probably see some very cold snaps in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, the city still awaits its first significant snowfall — though this could change in the coming weeks if forecasts come to fruition.

You might also like:
• Dreaming of a white Christmas? Not this year, says Canada's holiday forecast
• Toronto just broke an over 180-year weather record
• World's largest "weather anomaly" to hit Canada this week

The province is predicted to experience the dreaded effects of a polar vortex in the first few weeks of 2024, before temperatures snap back to more comfortable above-seasonal averages in what The Weather Network is calling “a significant thaw event.”

Toronto may even get its first major snowfall of the season in early January.

Is winter ever going to arrive? That’s the burning question on many Canadians’ minds as the usual cold and snow seem to be absent this year. https://t.co/FgH4VAtQhd

— The Weather Network (@weathernetwork) December 21, 2023

Those above-freezing daytime highs Toronto has enjoyed into late December will vanish as the new year arrives, with daytime highs not expected to exceed 0ºC for a stretch beginning next Friday, December 29.

Temperatures will plunge to overnight lows in the negative mid-single digits into 2024, with light dustings of snow expected in Toronto on December 30 and 31, culminating in a projected 5 to 10 cm of snowfall on January 4.

So keep those boots and parkas on standby, Toronto. We could still have a long, cold winter ahead.