TL:DR – Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow Criticised for £56m Snow Management Error
- North America experiences severe cold weather due to historic Storm Fern, impacting over 2,000 miles.
- Toronto faced record snowfall of 22 inches (56cm), mistakenly announced as 56m by Mayor Olivia Chow.
- 600 snow plows and 1,300 personnel have been deployed for snow removal efforts.
- Meteorologists noted the unusual weather patterns contributed to Toronto’s harsh conditions.
- Residents warned of extreme temperatures and frostbite risks, with expected lows of -17°C in the coming days.
Toronto mayor Olivia Chow mocked over 56m snow blunder
If you’ve been in North America over the past week or so you’ll know that it’s been cold. Really cold. In certain parts of the USA and Canada at least, with ‘historic’ Storm Fern bringing snow, ice and chaos across 2,000 miles of the southern and north-eastern parts of the US. And it didn’t stop there, with Canada also bearing the brunt of the snowfall and freezing temperatures. Although, as the white stuff blanketed the city of Toronto, its mayor fell victim to an unfortunate blunder (Picture: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
The Canadian city was covered in a record amount of snow during the storm – 22 inches, or 56cm, in total according to Environment Canada. However, Mayor Olivia Chow slightly over-estimated this amount during a press conference, broadcast on local channel CP24. ‘The ingredients were there. The cold arctic air sliding down from the arctic and interacting with very warm moist air over the tropics and that spun up a monster of a system, impacting millions of people stateside,’ Coulter said. (Picture: Canadian Press/Shutterstock)
‘Yesterday, the city of Toronto declared a major snowstorm and activated our major snow event response plan,’ she said. ‘Some areas received up to 56m of snow, and this is a record-breaking storm.’ Of course, she meant 56cm – a very different figure from 56 metres, but the flub did not go unnoticed by viewers. (Picture: CP24 via YouTube)
‘It was worse than during the last Ice Age apparently,’ one person commented on X, while another added: ‘Well s*** walking outside it feels like 56 metres.’ A third viewer joked: ‘Be ready for the upcoming snow tax because of 56 meters’ – although others sympathised, with one saying: ‘No-one said that converting to the metric system was going to be easy.’ (Picture: Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Joking aside, cleaning up after this particular snowstorm has proven difficult. Chow revealed at the press conference that 600 snow plows had been deployed across Toronto, while more than 1,300 city staff and contractors were mobilised to get the city moving again. (Picture: Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
City staff and contractors have been actively and relentlessly plowing, and we will continue plowing non-stop, and we won’t stop until the job is done,’ the mayor explained. ‘The roads now, you can get from one place to another place, and so the city is not paralyzed like perhaps was 21 (25) years ago or something like that where the mayor at the time called in the army. So, I don’t think we need to bring in the army.’ (Picture: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Meteorologists concurred that the Canadian city really did get the worst of the wintry weather. Bill Coulter, a meteorologist from CP24, explained: ‘The ingredients were there. The cold arctic air sliding down from the arctic and interacting with very warm moist air over the tropics and that spun up a monster of a system, impacting millions of people stateside.’ (Picture: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
‘We got the northern fringes (of that) so not only did we get system snow but we got a cold easterly wind which drew moisture off the lake and caused lake enhancement and snow squalls that sat right over Toronto. What a winter wallop for Toronto.’ (Picture: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
While the US digs itself out of the snowstorm, Toronto is still facing sub-zero temperatures. According to Accuweather, the temperature could dip as low as -17C in the coming days, with Environment Canada issuing a yellow warning for cold on Thursday, saying people could be at risk of frostbite on exposed skin. January continues to deliver all those old-fashioned winter feels. So much cold and snow. And now we need to prepare for more bitter and even dangerous wind chills ahead,’ Coulter said. (Picture:: Toronto Star via Getty Images)