This week is already off to a notable start in Canada. From a swath of heavy snow on parts of the Prairies to freezing rain in Ontario, it was a wintry beginning.
And we’re just getting started. There is plenty more of it to come, too, as the week progresses, thanks to a cross-country journey that is being undertaken by an Arctic air mass.
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Most of the country will get paid a visit from the frigid air, with B.C. being the notable exception. Here is what we’re watching across Canada with the bout of chilly temperatures and the weather that will accompany them.
This week:
A cold, below-seasonal air mass will escape Northern Canada and impact all of the country except one province.
The impacts will include cold temperatures on the Prairies and snow squalls in the Great Lakes, while also fuelling a strong storm moving up the East Coast.
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B.C. will miss out on the cold, and will enjoy relatively quiet weather early and midweek. Pacific flow and high pressure will keep things mild, but a weak system could bring rain to the South Coast region on Thursday.
The Prairies will bear the brunt of this week’s cold. The coldest day will be on Wednesday with -20 C daytime highs, and wind chills in the -30s. Thursday will see Winnipeg, Man., only have a daytime high hovering around a bitter -25 C. The widespread lows overnight this week will be well into the minus 30s.
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For Ontario, the coldest day will be on Thursday. Before that, the snowbelt regions will see lake-effect snow squalls fire up on Wednesday, accompanied by gusty winds. The wind direction will be changeable, though, so we shouldn’t see localized snowfall totals nearly as high as we saw during the first major event.
However, widespread, substantial totals are likely, along with blowing and drifting snow, which poses a risk for whiteouts. Snow will begins late Wednesday and continue on Thursday.
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And for Quebec and Atlantic Canada (and Ontario, too), a boundary will set up in the eastern U.S., and will form a new, low-pressure system that will bring widespread precipitation starting midweek.
For Quebec and Atlantic Canada, the coldest day will begin on Thursday and stretch into the weekend. Cold air will collide with mild air from the East, setting up a strong temperature gradient and fuelling a rapidly deepening low on Thursday. In this instance, the low-pressure system will stay over land and undergo explosive cyclogenesis from the Mid-Atlantic U.S. into Quebec.
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Strong winds are expected on Thursday, especially in the Maritimes, along with heavy, wintry precipitation.
With files from Rachel Modestino, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, and Nathan Howes, a digital reporter at The Weather Network.