According to Environment Canada, it's currently -23°C in Toronto. At least when you factor in the windchill, and it's pretty windy out there.
With all the snow we got 8 days ago, and this current deep freeze, I'm reading social media posts about how awful this winter has been for Torontonians. Now that I'm in my 13th winter of biking this city, I can gauge how awful a winter is based on how many days I stay off the bike and how often I'm forced to shorten my rides.
Heading into this very cold Friday, I was well on my way to cycling over 700km in January 2026. Historically, I've only accomplished this feat three times. Last year, for example, I only clocked 609km. In 2024, I biked 603km. I'll beat both numbers in 2026.
So based on this very, very anecdotal evidence, we're having a pretty average winter. We've had worse, and we've had better. But I have some bad news for everybody.... in my experience, January is almost always a better cycling month than February.
