Lady Gaga fans brave wild weather

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  • Jamie Smith, 20, has been camped out for days waiting for the Lady Gaga concert at the Air Canada Centre. If it were warmer, I think more people probably would have showed up earlier, she said.

Alex Malloys mother doesnt know hes braving a Toronto snowstorm while wearing a thin jacket and only one glove.

Malloy, 21, came from Manhattan to see Lady Gaga perform at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night. He lined up at 2 a.m. Thursday under an overpass outside the ACC, where about 50 others had also assembled by the afternoon, all jockeying for the best view of Lady Gaga at the concert.

By that time, Malloy had lost his second glove in his tent and was feeling really cold, but thought it was all part of the experience.

I lived through hurricanes. I went outside for some of those. I can handle it if it gets to the point where its unbearable, maybe well go inside, but well all stay together, said Malloy, who was sitting on a lawn chair under several blankets and drinking an extra-large hot chocolate.

(Lady Gaga is) worth it to all of us. She means something really special.

By the time they leave the concert Friday night, Toronto could be digging out from 20 centimetres or more of snow.

If that happens, it will be only the 10th time in 50 years that Toronto has seen that much snow in one day.

Last time, on Feb. 6, 2008, the Star reported it took an army of 200 salt trucks, 600 snowplows and 300 sidewalk plows to clean up the 30 centimetres of snow Toronto received. A fleet of the same size is ready to battle Fridays storm, the city said on Thursday.

Dubbed thundersnow because of the freak thunder that accompanied the snow, the 2008 storm was followed by an estimated $4 million cleanup.

Exactly 12 years ago, Toronto was hit with slightly more than 27 centimetres of snow in a surprise storm on Feb. 8, 2001. It halted 300 flights in and out of Pearson International Airport.

Similarly, many flights in and out of Pearson were cancelled or delayed on Thursday as the snow began to fall.

Jamie Smith, who was among those lining up outside the ACC, said the prospect of bad weather may have helped her secure her spot. If it were warmer, I think more people probably would have showed up earlier, she said.

Whether the latest snow-walloping lives up to its billing is still up in the air. Snowstorms can be pretty flaky.

Theres nobody whos forecasting the weather whos saying its going to miss us. I think its a done deal, said Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

Its just those nuances that make it a crippling storm or a little bit of a nuisance.

Whether the storm devastates or disappoints depends on how fast it moves, how much wind there is and when it hits, Phillips said.

Its not something that is easy to get right. If its just saying, Is it going to snow tomorrow? that would be an easy one.

With files from Toronto Star archives.