It’s raining, it’s pouring, and apparently, winter is snoring.

For a month that typically sees some of the coldest temperatures of the year, winter is in snooze mode in Toronto, with plenty of rain showering the city and a number of days with balmy temperatures above zero.

“I don’t think nature has got the script,” said Dave Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada. “This is supposed to be our coldest time of the year coming up.”

Friday will see a high of 6 C with periods of rain, and the drizzle is expected to continue throughout the weekend.

Saturday’s expected high of 6 C is 10 degrees warmer than it should be at this time of year. And while Sunday’s high of 8 C is pretty warm, it’s still not record-breaking, with the warmest temperature on record for that day hitting 9.4 C in 1959.

“It looks almost Vancouver-ish kind of weather. Rain, rain, and more rain,” Phillips said. “The rain is not going to freeze, so we’re not going to be skating on it.”

These weather conditions represent the third “winter thaw” of January, and what Phillips says is the longest, with the first two bouts lasting four days and three days. The mercury is likely to drop below freezing closer to January 28.

“We could get some cold temperatures in February, although our models seem to suggest that it will favour the warm side,” Phillips explains.

“It’s not as if nature’s going to punish us for this balmy, tropical weather,” it’s certainly too soon to put away our snow shovels and parks.

“Remember last year? It snowed in May.”