Residents north of Toronto may experience their first taste of winter-like weather with the possibility of snow by mid-week.
Global News chief meteorologist Anthony Farnell says cooler temperatures moving in the region north of the Greater Toronto Area can produce lake effect snow in York Region and Barrie.
“We’re talking late Wednesday into early Thursday morning and then I think a much better chance of widespread accumulating snow coming up here by the end of this weekend,” Farnell said during an interview with Matt Gurney on Global News Radio 640 Toronto on Monday.
Despite the temperature dropping near or at the freezing mark by mid-week, Farnell said Toronto will not see any snowflakes until the weekend.
“That second blast, that’s coming in by the end of this weekend, that wouldn’t surprise me if we actually get a few snow flurries even into Toronto itself. I don’t expect accumulation,” Farnell said.
Although a shock to the system, seeing snow during this time of the year isn’t uncommon, especially with the colder than normal temperatures experienced in southern Ontario late this summer, Farnell said.
“So that’s something that we haven’t been forecasting and now all that cold from western Canada and their early blast of winter, it’s moderated some, but it’s heading east,” Farnell explains.
However, Toronto won’t likely see any significant snowfall accumulation until late November.
“I do think as far as bigger snowfalls go for Toronto, we’re still talking mid to late-November,” Farnell said.
“We are leaning towards actually a snowy and colder winter. Not exactly what people want to hear, but that’s the way we see it now with a weak El Nino coming on in the Pacific.”