Residents who donned their shorts yesterday may find it no surprise it was a record warm day.

Temperatures at Pearson Airport hit 26C, more than twice the normal high for that day. Toronto's last record high for the day was in 1979 when the mercury hit 24C, said Dave Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

But it wasn't a one-day deal. This is the city's warmest October on record so far, said Phillips.

"It's not as if this is great Indian summer weather. This is summer weather."

So far, October has seen an average of nearly 16C, while around 9C would be a normal.

"It's almost seven degrees warmer than what it should be in October and that is quite amazing," he said. "We should have had a frost by now and we're not even close to it."

Baskin-Robbins in Dundas Village is seeing 25 to 30 per cent more business this month than what's typical for this time of year, said franchise owner David Tan.

"We definitely sell a lot more (ice cream) cakes because of the weather," he said, adding business was picking up last night and was expected to stay strong until 9:30 p.m.

While residents enjoy indulging in summer clothes and sports, Phillips points out the warm weather goes hand in hand with a drought.

"We're continuing to break temperatures from the lack of rain and that's a very serious issue," he said.

Since the start of 2007, the city has had 393 millimetres of rain while normal levels would be 663 millimetres.

Toronto hasn't had such a dry year since 1958, when it saw only 411 millimetres of rain by late October.