It’s no surprise to anyone that the winter has been a mild one. Even parts of Canada that are famous for their frigid winter temperatures, such as Northern Canada, experienced an unusual amount of winter warmth this year.
In Ontario, this winter has been so mild that most of the province saw a snowless holiday season. While this isn’t too out of the norm for southern Ontario, it’s a rare event to see green grass amongst the colourful lights and holiday decorations.
This all may have been leaving many Ontarians to think that this winter is a write-off, especially as we head into February’s finale. There have been a few short cold spells, but they haven’t been extremely cold thanks to El Niño.
However, we’re here to tell you that winter is, in fact, not over yet and has another cold snap up its sleeve!
Frigid temperatures move in
Temperatures are forecast to drop late in the week and into the early weekend, with Saturday morning being the coldest morning folks will have felt in a long while.
Temperatures on Friday will be their warmest through the late morning or early afternoon ahead of a cold front moving south and ushering in the colder air. Central Ontario will feel this cool down through the morning.
By Saturday morning, central and eastern Ontario will be range from a freezing -18°C to -23°C, with temperatures potentially reaching -20°C in Ottawa. This would make it the first time Ottawa has reached -20°C this season! Ottawa has never gone through a winter season without reaching -20°C, so if it isn’t reached this time, it’ll continue to get harder and harder to reach -20°C as we head through March.
Southwestern Ontario is also looking at cold temperatures moving in, plunging to -10°C to -15°C from Windsor to the Greater Toronto Area — a stark difference from the warm 14°C and 9°C the cities, respectively, saw on Wednesday.
A biting wind chill will also be making an appearance on Saturday for both the GTA and Ottawa, so be sure to bundle up if you’re heading anywhere.
These temperatures will only last for a short time, however, as temperatures will be back above freezing on Sunday, and potentially reaching double digitals for the middle of next week!
Stay with The Weather Network for more forecast information and updates on your weather across Ontario.