Toronto weather doing something not seen since 1967 unlike the Maple Leafs

Much like the Maple Leafs let Toronto down with their stunning Game 7 loss on Sunday, Mother Nature is setting the city up for some disappointment in the weather department over the coming days with a cold sweep that has an uncanny tie to the hockey team beyond simply not meeting expectations.

After it seemed that the long-awaited warm weather had finally settled in for the season, Southern Ontario will be hit with some comparatively frigid temperatures this week that are quite unusual for this time of year — so unusual, in fact, that it hasn't been this cold this late into May since 1967, the same year that the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup.

While the GTA has already come close to the 30 C mark in spring 2025 amid some absolutely delightful, sunny conditions that have drawn us all out of our dejected winter hibernation, the Victoria Day long weekend was a bit of a letdown, weather-wise.

Below-seasonal temps across the region over May 17-19 prompted many to re-don sweaters, coats, and yes, Leafs jerseys when they'd initially planned to laze around a park or patio, or kick off a cottage summer with a lake swim before tuning into Sunday's game.

For local hockey fans, the discouraging conditions were made even worse by the Leafs once again getting eliminated from the playoffs. And though there are no more Leafs games to break our spirits, the less-than-ideal weather is sticking around for a while, actually getting even colder this week.

The latest forecast from the Weather Network (TWN) shows single-digit highs on the way for Toronto and other parts of Southern Ontario from Wednesday to Friday, plummeting to 8 C for at least the mornings of all three days, which will only warm up to as high as 10 C under overcast, rainy skies. 

Overnight temps, meanwhile, will be as frosty as 7 C, feeling more like late November than near-June.

"Keep in mind, average temperatures are comfortably in the low 20s for this time of year for much of Ontario," TWN wrote in a post about the unseasonable chill, calling the conditions "highly anomalous" and unseen for nearly 60 years.

According to its data, the agency says the region hasn't experienced temperatures remaining in the single digits during this second-last week of May since May 22, 1967, when the mercury fell to 9.4 C — which is still warmer than this Thursday's daytime high of 9 C.

Prior to that, some wintry bursts came around as late as June, with the same 9.4 C highs recorded on June 1 and 2, 1945.

Hopefully, we won't be seeing this cold spell stretch nearly that late into the year. As it stands now, things are set to heat up by the weekend, with highs of 14 C on Saturday, May 24 and 16 C on Sunday, May 25, with at least some sun in the cards.