Ottawa will receive a dose of winter weather this weekend, with 2 to 4 centimetres of snow Saturday followed by frigid temperatures starting on Sunday.
“We get a lot of cold air coming from the north for different reasons,” David Phillips, Environment Canada’s senior climatologist, tells Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal Friday.
“Whether it’s (a Polar Vortex), or whether it’s a Siberian Express, or a polar pipeline or an Arctic outbreak, I don’t really care what it is. We know that it is coming; it is cold.”
Environment Canada’s forecast calls for 2 to 4 cm of snow Saturday, with another 2 cm of snow tonight, before temperatures drop to -16 C tonight and -21 C Sunday night.
“Very cold weather is expected from Sunday evening until the middle of next week. Wind chill values will range between -30 and -37,” says a note on the Environment Canada website.
Ottawa will see daytime highs of -12 C Sunday, -16 C Monday and -15 C Tuesday, with overnight lows of -24 C Monday night and -22 C Tuesday night.
The overnight lows of -21 C Sunday and -24 C Monday would be the coldest temperatures recorded at the Ottawa Airport since February 2023, when the temperature dropped to -20.8 C on Feb. 24, 2023 and -24.4 C on Feb. 25, 2023. It was -33.1 C on Feb. 4, 2023.
Phillips says the cold weather will cover much of Canada and the United States.
“We’ve had a lot of cool weather since the first of January,” Phillips says, noting there has only been one hour with the temperature hitting 0 C in Ottawa since New Year’s Day.
“It’s likely that you’re going to see possibly, as far as I can see out to the next two-and-a-half weeks, every day is going to be below freezing. The Polar Vortex, if that’s what you want to call it, might be there till mid week of next week and then the cold stays; it’s not going away, it’s being resupplied by more cold air from the Arctic.”
With a deep-freeze on the way, Marc-Antoine Deschamps with the Ottawa Paramedic Service says it’s important to first assess the need to be outside.
“If you don’t have to be outside, you should stay inside. We have to be very careful with the vulnerable population, we’re talking about the very young, the elderly, the shelter community. These people are more at risk to frostbite,” Deschamps says. “If you go outside, the first thing is prevention. Wear a toque, a neck warmer and make sure you have mitts that have plenty of room that are not too tight. The same thing with your boots and make sure you dress in layers.”
Deschamps says in cold weather, the addition of a wind chill factor can cause the onset of frostbite in a matter of minutes, and it is important to know some of its tell-tale signs.
“First of all, the skin will turn red or change colour before becoming painful and can have a waxy kind of look. When that happens, seek shelter and do not warm the area too quickly. Do not use hot water; you can use your own body heat to re-warm the affected area,” says Deschamps. “And look out for each other. If you see your friend, your colleague that is developing signs of frostbite, let them know and try to get them into warmth and make sure the areas covered.”
Environment Canada’s forecast calls for temperatures to remain cold through next week.
Phillips says Ottawa will see a “good, old-fashioned kind of” winter through January and February.
“What we see over the next three weeks is no melting and no rain,” Phillips says. “It’s just absolutely good ice growing weather, and then some warming maybe in February but, I don’t know, this bout of cold weather is very long lasting.”
Rideau Canal Skateway
The green flag is flying on the Rideau Canal Skateway.
The National Capital Commission opened the final 400-metres of the skateway Saturday between Laurier Avenue and Rideau Street. Skaters can now travel along the world’s largest skating rink between Rideau and Dow’s Lake/Carleton University Library.
With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Tyler Fleming
