Most of southern Ontario, parts of northern Ontario under extreme cold warning

A large swath of Ontario was under an extreme cold warning on Friday as a polar air mass with biting wind chills made its way across the province.

Environment Canada warned of wind chill values between -30 C and -40 C across much of southern and eastern Ontario, and up to -50 C in parts of northern Ontario.

The federal weather agency said the cold could cause frostbite to develop on exposed skin within minutes.

Meteorologist Steven Flisfeder said the extreme cold conditions across the province were expected to continue into Saturday.

“Tundra is a pretty good word to bring into this,” said Flisfeder. “We saw very cold temperatures across northern Ontario through the week and that air mass has finally made its way towards southern Ontario.”

Temperatures were expected to plunge overnight Friday, he said.

“We won’t see a real warm up until later in the day Saturday,” said Flisfeder. “By the time we get to early next work week, we’ll have temperatures above seasonal once again.”

Environment Canada said wind chill could approach -30 C in the Greater Toronto Area on Friday, while in Ottawa it could feel closer to -40 C.

In Thunder Bay, Environment Canada said said it would feel more like -45 C and the regions around Hudson Bay were forecast to feel wind chills around -50 C.

In addition to the extreme cold alerts, Environment Canada issued snow squall warnings for Grey-Bruce and Huron-Perth in southern Ontario, with snowfall up to 25 centimetres through Friday evening.

“Just grit our teeth, dress in layers, limit our time outdoors as much as possible and make sure we cover up as much skin as possible to protect from frostbite,” said Flisfeder.

City of Toronto data indicated its warming centres were at 98 per cent capacity on Thursday.

It said there was still space in its overnight shelter system Friday morning.

The city said it had directed staff not to turn anyone away from shelters or warming centres during the extreme cold.

The extreme cold snap led Environment Canada to issue similar cold warnings in Manitoba, through to Quebec and the Maritimes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2023.