Torontonians were scratching their heads and unzipping their coats Tuesday as the temperature soared to a new record high for February.

The temperature hit 15.5 C at Pearson, making it the warmest February day ever recorded in the city.

The previous record was set on Feb. 23, 1984 when the mercury hit 14.9 C.

“What we’re seeing today is quite a spectacular record,” Environment Canada Chief Climatologist David Phillips told CP24. “Never have we ever seen a warmer day in February.”

Phillips said a couple of factors went into the making of the balmy day.

“I think it clearly is El Nino’s super effects. This weather system has come up from the United States and is fed by air from the tropics and has absolutely made a b-line for the Great Lakes area.”

He said while there would normally be some snow on the ground to cool it down, the city has seen hardly any snowfall recently.

“It’s like a sampling of spring at a time of the month when normally you get your coldest temperatures,” Phillips said.

He noted that at noon in Los Angeles today, the temperature was only 1.5 degrees warmer than in Toronto.

The record warm day is part of a string of unseasonably warm weather that the region has been seeing.

However more spring-like days are not expected in the forecast anytime soon. The temperature is expected to dip to a high of 2 C Thursday and is expected to hover around highs of 0 C for the rest of the week.