Canada is one of the most diverse countries in the world when it comes to everything from population to weather. We’ve decided to take a look at Toronto, a city where you can get the most out of all four seasons – and we’re not talking about the hotel!
When people ask a Canadian, what their favourite thing about Canada is, you'll most likely hear that they get to experience all four seasons. And unlike here where our 'seasons' swing massively disproportionately to a grey non-season, sprinkled intermittently with a few short bursts of sunshine, snow or drizzle, each season lasts for at least a couple months so you really do see a transition in the weather—it also allows you to gradually adapt to the cold Canadian winters!
The range in the coldest day to the hottest day is quite extreme in some cases. Winter temperatures average at around -6°C in Toronto—which sometimes feels like -20°C with wind-chill (brrrr), but it makes for a great skate in Nathan Philips Square while sipping on hot chocolate (just don’t do both at the same time!) Summer temperatures usually average at about 27°C in July but sometimes there are days that feel like up to 40°C with the humidex, so bring your suntan lotion!
Like Marmite, a cold winter is something you either love or hate, so we suggest getting there in the summer (our sweeping generalisation is that everyone loves summer); that way you’ll get to experience all four seasons without having to bundle up for more than one bone-chillingly cold winter.
In the summer, Toronto is full of street festivals, parades, and its famous Canadian National Exhibition and whenever their professional baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays are playing, there’s a nice buzz in the air.
During the autumn, you’ll want to escape the city centre of Toronto and hit up some of the beautiful parks like High Park where the trees turn from their luscious green, to vibrant yellows, reds, oranges and purples. The only thing that would beat that, is if there were live animals to see - oh wait, there are at the High Park Zoo, so bring your camera and go crazy with taking photos.
Soon enough, those vibrant colours will soon change again to whiteness – a dusting of white snow will cover the trees, ground, roads, lake and everything else! BUT the difference is Toronto won’t shut-down to a standstill; people will get out their shovels, clear the path, wipe the snow off their cars, and trek on through! And the best part of snow season is skiing and snowboarding! After a winter in Canada you’ll return to the UK and understand what a true snowfall looks like.
Once spring arrives, everyone is ready for the flowers to bloom, and instil life into the greyness that was winter. The end of spring is the perfect time to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens which always has some new event going on like listening to jazz, or classical music whilst walking through the gardens; so peaceful!
Canada is a beautiful country coast to coast and a lot of this weather can be found in most other cities close to the USA border as well.