Friday's your launchpad — clear skies, Carnival closures, Jays at seven.

Sixteen degrees, mainly clear, and you've got 14 and a half hours of daylight to work with. UV's sitting at 8, which is high — if you're heading outside for lunch or catching the Jays later, sunscreen's worth the two minutes. Sun doesn't drop until 8:42 tonight, so you've got serious evening light to play with.

If you're driving anywhere near the 401 eastbound, give yourself extra time. There's a pile-up at Kennedy Road in Scarborough with two left lanes down, another collision at the Kennedy Collector-to-Express transfer with all lanes blocked, and a third one out at Port Union Road with two left lanes closed. It's a rough morning on the 401 — consider an alternate route if you can. The Gardiner's also got a closure westbound beyond Kipling if that's your usual. And heads up: the Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade is running today, so there'll be road closures across the city — worth checking your route if you're heading downtown or through the core.

A couple of things worth knowing this morning: there's a major police corruption probe underway involving a man with ties to global drug trafficking. And parole's been denied for the person convicted of killing Toronto police Const. Todd Baylis — that decision came down this week. Both stories hitting hard.

If you're thinking about eating out, Roots has set up shop at The Well with six iconic Canadian food destinations running through today, so if you haven't caught that yet, it's your last day. Grape Witches is throwing a tomato party tonight with Robinson Bread's four-foot-long heirloom sandwich — worth a scoop if you're into that kind of thing. And a heads up: The Night Baker's closing its original spot on College Street after seven years, so if that's a regular for you, you might want to swing by.

Tonally, tonight feels like the start of something. The Jays are taking on the St. Louis Cardinals at Rogers Centre at 7:07 — solid Friday night baseball weather, clear and warm. If live music's your vibe instead, there's plenty: The Blushing Brides doing a Rolling Stones tribute at Rockpile, Ominous Anonymous with Mixed Signal and Hot Dog Boddy at Sneaky Dee's, or Cruz Beckham and The Breakers at The Garrison if you want something different. Veld Music Festival kicks off tonight too at Downsview Park — three days of dance, hip-hop, and electronic if that's calling you.

Weekend's shaping up nice. Get outside, catch some sun, and enjoy the clear skies.

Catch you tonight.