Move on to the next article if you’re a winter hater, one of those people who dislike cold joy. This is a lament for another lousy winter, lousy because it hasn’t been much of a winter at all. There are many of us who have a great affection for the season, though few speak of this love, lest they feel the wrath of the spring, summer and autumn absolutists. We are, however, more than a bit bummed out by the lack of snow these past few years.
There has been no ravine snowshoeing or back alley cross-country skiing this year, though we were given hope there would be a lot of it. In late summer and fall, when many begin to worry about winter, the weather fear mongers and even the Canadian Farmers’ Almanac were predicting a fierce winter for Toronto. Yet the city has remained relatively snow free, a season of easy commutes and rusty shovels.
We snow lovers know to avoid watching Buffalo newscasts and their grand tales of lake-effect storms that pass to the south of us. Toronto is located in some kind of snowless vortex; head just an hour or so north and you cross the line into snow country. There’s always good skiing in the hills around Barrie and Orillia. Instead of blizzards, save for the one back in December, we have had a few cold snaps, winter rain and the brief ice storm of the past week. Depressing, dreary and damp: winter, but without the joy of snow.
It’s like the farmers and meteorologists were teasing Toronto, a city that has had a difficult if exaggerated relationship with winter that goes back nearly 20 years to the day in 1999 when Mayor Mel Lastman called in the army to rescue the recently amalgamated city after two snow emergencies were called in 10 days. Those megacity blues are brought up every time somebody tags a city snowstorm with the #Snowmageddon hashtag, unleashing the Toronto winter jokes yet again.
It isn’t just Toronto though: across Canada reports of the upcoming winter included scary words like brace, frigid, ice cold, and bitter. Toronto, being the biggest and loudest Canadian city, gets most of the flak for being a winter whiner, though it’s nice of Vancouver to take the load off us with their recent winter storms throwing that city into a mostly benign chaos, one place living up to the winter predictions.
Montreal? Well, they don’t really complain about winter. Their Nuit Blanche, Montréal en Lumière, even happens in winter. Kudos to the Distillery District for launching the inaugural Toronto Festival of Lights this winter, a nocturnal winter festival that runs until March 13.
Winter-aversion has some real world effects on the design of the city. Though this is changing slowly, so many renderings of proposed architecture and urban spaces seem to depict the city in a perpetual sunny June, when it’s at its verdant zenith. Longing for these perfect days means we’ve often forgot to design public spaces for winter as well as summer, causing people to hibernate at home rather than venture into their city.
The Canadian disdain and fear of winter is odd considering the country trades so heavily on a mythology of being rugged winter people. Perhaps it’s just about the plaid lumberjack fashions. A city snowfall, before the salt turns it into a filthy toxic slush, is a magical thing: all our ugly bits have been covered up and sounds are muffled, so the city seems soft and gentle. Night walks in the snow are always bright, even down in the ravines, as streetlights are reflected and amplified over the snow.
During a blizzard there’s also the shared sense of getting through something together, even if we all know the routine. Like sporting events, weather is a great community builder.
To be sure, a snowy winter can be a burden for some people, especially the elderly. The salt we dump on the sidewalks stings canine toes, kills street trees and a friend who gets around town in a wheelchair tells me it clogs up her wheels. As well, those with seasonal affective disorder truly go into a depression during this season of such little light. Even those of us who don’t suffer from the condition can find the constantly cloudy skies this year cast a pall over the general mood. We hope for a sunny day after a snowfall when the city is as bright as a day on the beach.
A crummy winter also means spring won’t come upon us like a revelation, but rather an incremental change, so we’ll miss out on the epiphany of that first truly warm day. Still, we who love winter are hoping for at least one more blizzard. You’ll know where to find us when the snow starts.
Shawn Micallef writes every Saturday about where and how we live in the GTA. His new book is Frontier City: Toronto on the Verge of Greatness. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef
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