This might not be the first news of twisters in the winter, but it’s definitely the first we’ve heard on snow twisters!
In a recently shared video on CBS News’s Twitter on the morning of January 18th, a rare winter tornado formed in Toronto, Canada during a heavy winter storm.
SNOW TWISTER: A storm in Toronto on Monday brought a lot more than just heavy snow. In the North York area, it also spawned a snow twister in the middle of the street. pic.twitter.com/5CKSSFuZL4
— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 18, 2022
People in the comments shared a few of their theories on the cause of the rare winter event. One person said, “It’s called Global Warming” while another one blamed the “Snow Devil.” Whatever it happened to be, I’ve never seen anything like it.
A Toronto resident captured the video of the twister taking off and settling down before posting it to YouTube. In the video, snow is seen making a funnel in the middle of the street surrounded by a wintery scene. The twister first sparked in the North York area of the Canadian city. This is a sign that Toronto was ravaged by the crushed ice crystals.
According to Yahoo, Toronto accumulated around 17 inches of snow. The city received so much snow that the news rewarded them with a blizzard warning.
More On Toronto Winter Snow Twister
Toronto Sun is even calling this time of year in their city “Snow-mageddon.”
To help efforts in snow removal, Toronto declared a “major snowstorm condition” after the storm. Under this declaration, parking is prohibited for 72 hours on certain snow routes. If someone parks in one of these routes during prohibited times, they risk being fined $200. Does this sound too harsh, Outsiders? Site-specific snowplow operations are also scheduled to start once planned plowing ends conclude later this week.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said it’s essential to make the declaration so know how to protect themselves. He also called the recent snow “extraordinary” and said that it caused more issues for them than usual during wintertime. “I will just say that we are doing our best in a challenging situation that is more challenging than normal,” he said.
The snow became so severe that the Toronto Pearson International Airport broke a record for the most snowfall in the area with 32 centimeters in one day. In 1994, the record made it to 7.6 centimeters of snow at the airport.
Formerly, Toronto recorded over 30 centimeters of snow in 2008. In 2019, the city reached more than 25 centimeters of snow. Imagine all the snowmen that could’ve been built.
