After a stretch of icy days, respite in the form of positive temperatures is on the horizon for Toronto.
Friday started off at around -18 C, but Environment Canada expects it to warm up slightly, to -11 C by the afternoon.
The climbing temperatures prompted Environment Canada to cancel an extreme cold weather alert on Friday morning. However, an alert issued by the City of Toronto remains in effect while the city anticipates an overnight wind chill value of -22.
The wind chill is expected to take a break on the weekend, with a high of -2 C on Saturday, feeling more like -7 C in the afternoon.
By Sunday, temperatures will have risen back into the positives. Torontonians could see a daytime high of 3 C with a pretty good chance of rain showers or snow flurries.
Despite the hopeful weather forecast, transit service continues to be affected by the cold weather.
The Scarborough RT resumed this morning after an erratic week of suspensions and delays.
The light-rail line that runs from Kennedy Station to McCowan Station, known as Line 3, first went down on Monday morning when a heavy dumping of snow slammed the city. Service resumed at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, but by late Wednesday afternoon, service along the line had been suspended again, this time due to mechanical problems stemming from the frigid temperatures.
Within 15 minutes of RT service resuming on Friday, the TTC reported delays of up to 15 minutes near Kennedy Station due to yet another mechanical problem.
“We have had crews working round the clock to try to get service back up and running for our customers but it has been a really, really difficult week,” TTC spokesperson Hayley Waldman told CP24 prior to the start of service. “The weather has been brutal and the area that the RT runs on is really flat and snow gets compacted and there are all sorts of issues with ice.”
The extreme cold has not just created issues for the Scarborough RT.
Service was suspended on the Union-Pearson Express on Wednesday night and for most of Thursday.
Metrolinx expects trains will run on the line today every 30 minutes, rather than every 15.
Metrolinx spokesperson Matt Llewellyn previously said that "fine, sugary snow" on the ground is mainly to blame for the issues plaguing the line.
"It seems to get into every crease and crack into the actual UP unit and when it is whipped up by the wind, that's when it really creates problems," Llewellyn told CP24 on Thursday.
The TTC has said that there will also be bus service in place of streetcar service on the 501 Queen route today due to equipment-related issues.
It is not known whether those issues are due to the extreme cold.
