This day in T.O.

Caught In Transit

It’s hard to imagine that a 51-year-old man could ever be mistaken for a high school student. But that’s what Toronto Police allege is the impression Emanuel Mendonca tried to make.

He’s in the custody of cops, who have been searching for a suspect that’s been plaguing the T.T.C. since October of last year. Authorities say they’ve been receiving an increasing number of reports about sexual assaults on the system.

A man, wearing make-up and dressed in clothing resembling a high school student, would apparently sidle up to passengers on the Lawrence West bus, traveling from Martin Grove to the Yonge subway, and begin rubbing himself against them. He was finally captured on Monday by T.T.C. security.

Holy Frickity Frack it's Cold

Uncle! If only crying out that word was enough to make Mother Nature loosen her tight grip of miserable weather. But most Toronto residents are saying other words – most of them unprintable – about what’s going on outside their windows.

Snow brought more misery to a city that’s already been besieged by severe and bitter cold, with temperatures plummeting to –21C, accompanied by a wind chill ten degrees below that. Between 5 and 15 centimetres of the frosted flakes are expected to fall between now and Thursday, creating even more trouble for those who were laughing during our double digit temperatures just two weeks ago.

An east wind is intensifying the suffering, which is being caused by an Alberta clipper - fast moving storms that are bringing Arctic conditions with nothing to modify them.

And unless you head south, there's no real escape. The bitter cold is being felt from Manitoba all the way to New Brunswick. And hard as it is to fathom, Thursday is expected to be the coldest day of the winter yet, with wind chills dipping to -35C.

This deep freeze has brought many the equivalent of a weather ice cream headache. Driving has become treacherous, as wind whips the snow to blizzard-like and white-out conditions in some areas. Navigating is slow, and getting worse, with authorities urging all motorists to take it easy if they’re going to get there safely – or better still, stay off the roads altogether.

Still, some are trying to remain optimistic, through their chattering teeth. “You know, you can't have the good without the bad, so … when summer comes, we're going to be double as happy,” figures student Ahmad Obeid.

Others are simply resigned to their fate. “It's like springtime in Alaska, eh?” posits Thomas Giddy. “You have to live with it.”

At least for the next few days. Conditions should moderate somewhat by the weekend, when highs reach a balmy -10C. It's hard to imagine, but after this week, that almost sounds warm.

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