This year has not been exceptionally snowy in Toronto, but that ice...

People have been complaining about a "bad winter" here in Toronto. But then people always complain about the weather, don't they? People in Florida probably complain about the weather.
Me, I didn't think it had been that bad, so I thought I would check. The official Environment and Climate Change Canada stats on snowfall in Toronto show that this year has in fact been, well, about average (although to be fair, it's not over yet). Over the last 25 years, Toronto's snowfall averages out to about 110cm. This year we are up to 107cm. Other stats show that March and April typically contribute about a fifth of the year's total snowfall, so we may end up with another 20cm or so, which would put this year above average but not dramatically so. Certainly nothing like 2008's huge 216.5cm (I remember struggling to shovel snow onto next door's front yard, which was stacked up to the second storey).
What we have seen more of this year, though, at least in my mind, is ice. Nothing like the huge ice storm of 2013-14, although we have had several smaller freezing rain events. I mean the constant daily thawing and refreezing, patches of black ice on the sidewalks, parks completely covered in an enveloping layer of slick smooth ice. I must have used the ice-scraper almost as often as the snow shovel this year, and it's back-breaking work (I actually quite enjoy shovelling snow, but hacking away at ice is nobody's idea of fun).
Last year was almost as bad, as I remember, but, before last year, I really don't remember ice being such an issue. I assume that what is causing this is temperature variability - temperatures rising above zero during the day and then dropping below, often substantial below, zero at night (good maple syrup weather, I suppose). However, it is hard, if not impossible, to find useful statistics on temperature variability, even on Environment and Climate Change Canada's excellent weather stats website. I just know that the novelty has well and truly worn off, and I am already counting off the days until that Belize vacation in March.