TORONTO – It’s winter alright, and not only is southern Ontario battling frigid temperatures, but more snow is on the way.
Temperatures in and around the GTA have hovered near -20 C over the past two days. Environment Canada issued a wind chill warning on Sunday as winds of 30 km/h made it feel more like -30 C or colder, prompting the City of Toronto to issue an extreme cold weather alert.
READ MORE: Most of Canada under deep freeze
The cold temperatures are expected to push out of the area on Saturday and last into Monday, but replacing it will be more snow.
Just two weeks after recovering from the ice storm that hit southern and eastern Ontario, as well as Quebec and eastern Canada, another system is setting up that could drop more than 15 cm of snow across the GTA with higher amounts in eastern Ontario.
“We’ve had cold winters before, we’ve had snowy winters before, but this is bringing both of them together,” said Geoff Coulson, Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“These cold air masses do tend to be stubborn once they assert themselves,” he said of the cold temperatures. “I think this particular outbreak has been noteworthy for…the depth of cold making it very difficult. The way these air masses move is very dependent on what the cold air is doing. Warm air never wins.”
Once the cold moves out, the snow will move in. And this, Coulson said, could pose a problem for kids returning to school on Monday morning.
Not only is snow expected to affect most of southern Ontario, but it will hit areas already hit hard by snow over the past two days, mainly in southwestern Ontario.
“Windsor is probably going to end up with more snow in two days than they normally get for the whole month of January,” said Coulson of the recent snowfall. “Or at least they’re going to rival their total January snowfall in two days.”
“This winter seems to be one that’s going to stick with us in the years to come,” Coulson said.
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