Fog advisory remains in effect in Toronto; normal operations resume at Pearson

Normal operations have resumed at Toronto Pearson International Airport after dense fog resulted in some flights being grounded by NAV Canada Wednesday.

However, the airport warned that delayed flights may take some time to catch up due to the rain and fog this evening.

Weather was expected to affect flights across the eastern seaboard, a spokesperson for the airport said in a post on social media.

The spokesperson added that the inclement weather would likely cause flight delays to and from Boston, New York, Washington, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

A fog advisory remained in effect for Toronto and parts of the Greater Toronto Area Wednesday morning as a stretch of mild weather arrived in the region.

Hamilton and Vaughan were included in the advisory as fog rolled into the region, reducing visibility for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Rain helped improve visibility in the afternoon, but Environment Canada warned that conditions would deteriorate again when the rain departs this evening.

“Visibility may be significantly and suddenly reduced to near zero,” the federal weather agency said in its advisory.

Toronto will close out the week with a stretch of warmer weather with Environment Canada calling for a high of 3 C on Wednesday, 4 C on Thursday, and 7 C on Friday. The average daytime high for late January is several degrees cooler at -2.4 C. The mild conditions are expected to continue this weekend, with the national weather agency forecasting a high of 5 C on Saturday.

"Rain combined with warm temperatures, frozen ground and melting ice and snow could result in high water levels and river ice break-up," the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority said in a water safety message issued Wednesday. "Please exercise caution near waterways."

Toronto has seen notably little snow and significantly more rain this winter than in past years.

Speaking to CP24 on Tuesday, Environment Canada Senior Climatologist Dave Phillips said it is one of the “tamest” winters Toronto has seen in years.

“We haven’t been inconvenienced at all,” he said.

Speaking to CTV Toronto earlier this month, Phillips also noted how little sunshine Toronto has seen this winter.

He said Toronto would have seen roughly between 190 to 200 hours of clear skies throughout the winter so far.

“Well, all we’ve had is 30,” he said. “It’s almost like the sun doesn’t appear anymore. It’s almost like a Vancouver kind of a winter.”

Snow and more seasonable temperatures are expected to return next week.