Mother Nature has another blast of winter weather in store for London and the surrounding area, with up to 15 centimeters of snow expected by Tuesday morning.
A snowfall warning from Environment Canada for London, Parkhill, and Eastern Middlesex County says snow will start to fall between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., just in time to hamper people’s morning commute.
“It looks like the snow could fall quite heavily at times for much of the day,” said one of the weather agency’s meteorologists, Mark Schuster.
Environment Canada is cautioning people about fast changing and deteriorating travel conditions expected as people head to and from work Monday, with snow accumulating on highways, roads, sidewalks, and parking lots.
“The snow should start to taper off sometime this evening,” explained Schuster. London is right on the edge of heavy snow, with regions to the south and the west seeing a potential change over to rain.
A special weather statement for Strathroy, Komoka, and Western Middlesex County estimates between 10-15 centimeters of snow, which might change into rain in the evening.
Monday starts very cold in London, with early morning windchill values as low as -31 degrees. Schuster said those temperatures will rise steadily throughout the day, but won’t get warmer than -2 C in the evening, before cold temperatures return overnight.
“This… warm spell will be very brief,” he said. The overnight low is -9 C, feeling like -18 C with windchill, and by Wednesday and Thursday Schuster said all of southern Ontario will be in a “deep freeze.”
On top of the snowfall warning, Officials with the Middlesex London Health Unit (MLHU) have issued a third cold weather alert, set to remain in place until Thursday morning.
The MLHU says bitter winds that often accompany the cold weather brings an added risk of frostbite and hypothermia.
Wednesday’s high is -16 C, and Thursday’s is -13 C.