Canada gripped by deep-freeze...Extreme cold advisory

 

 

 

 



Skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa

 

 

The teeth-chattering cold snap that has caught many Canadians off-guard, seizing vehicle engines and setting cold-weather records in many parts of the country, is expected to last at least until the weekend.

Frigid wind chill temperatures brought on by an arctic air mass will begin to taper off for the Prairies and central Canada in the coming days as the jet stream moves it east.
Earlier Wednesday morning, the coldest measured temperature in the world was –43.1 C in the North West Territories ( N.W.T.), that is 43.1 degrees below freezing for all you Farenheit people with Rouyn Airport in Quebec second at –40.3 C and Jakutsk, Russia, recording –38.8 C.

Hydro-Québec set a record for power consumption, with system demand reaching a historical peak of 38,910 megawatts (MW) this morning, exceeding the 37,717 MW peak recorded on Jan. 24, 2011.
While all of its production facilities remain in operation, Hydro-Québec is asking the public to reduce power consumption during peak periods of 7-9 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and 4-8 p.m. Wednesday.
Temperatures for Montreal and Québec City for Thursday are forecasted to be –40 C with the wind chill.

Ottawa Public Health issued a frostbite warning after the capital was at its coldest in eight years. The lows are forecasted to continue into Thursday with northwest winds making temperatures –39 C with the wind chill.

Health officials are advising people to wear layers if going outside, reminding them it only takes five to 10 minutes for exposed skin to freeze once the temperature dips to –25 C and below. Elderly people are advised to stay indoors  if they can or make activities outside as brief as possible. In fact the advisory recommends all people stay indoors if at all possible.

"Shelters are full, they're at capacity," said the CBC's Ashley Burke, adding that staff at homeless shelters were laying down mats to create makeshift sleeping quarters.  A homeless man was found dead of hypothermia in Toronto; the unconfirmed conclusion is that he froze to death. There may be others before the Arctic front moves on. If you can take someone to a shelter, please do it.  Or if you spot homeless people in need of shelter you are advised to call the City of Toronto's 311 hotline.

But the cold weather in Ottawa wasn't all bad news, as the Rideau Canal opened another three-kilometre stretch for skaters keen to get outside no matter how cold it gets.
Shaun Pereira was doing excavation work at an outdoor site in downtown Toronto on Wednesday and called the cold snap very jarring.
"This morning was brutal. Everything was frozen, my hands, my face, " he said.  Pereira, who works outside "all day, every day," thinks the cold weather was long overdue.
"I honestly cannot remember it being as cold as it has been this week. But I'm always ready for it, I was born in Canada. A few extra layers and some coffee is all I need."

Toronto is a far cry from other cold regions of the country like Churchill, Man., which on Thursday morning has a projected high of –25 C with an extreme wind chill making it –46 C.


Snow squall warnings forecasted for western and southern Newfoundland remain in place tonight and through to tomorrow. Temperatures across the Maritimes will be into the minus double digits again for daytime highs, and wind chill values are expected to range from the –20s to well into the –30s for New Brunswick, P.E.I. and parts of central Nova Scotia.

Bundle up Canada and don't forget to dress in layers. Wrap your children warmly and remember, ears and cheeks get frosbitten very quickly. Winter has arrived.