Deep Freeze Canada: Eastern Canada Pounded With Winter Storm

Eastern Canada Braces for Deep Freeze

Canadians are as adept at dealing with extreme colds as the Australians are at handling the heat in the Outback, but some very extreme weather is due to strike Eastern Canada and test everyone’s limit for cold weather endurance. This weekend will be the calm before the cold for many as next week promises to bring ice storms and near katabatic winds.

Already some parts of Eastern Canada have seen temperatures drop twenty degrees below -20 C (-4 F) and with wind chill it reaches -40 C (-40 F). At those extremes, frost bite can ensure in minutes to exposed skin. Authorities have already issued wind chill warnings to residents from Ontario to Nova Scotia and the Maritimes. In addition, blizzards are expected to strike those areas as this weekend.

The city of Toronto has largely been spared of the extreme cold, but that is a relative term. Apparently, -18 C (8 F) is considered being spared for a Canadian, but there are many Americans who would not concur with that assessment. Ottawa and Montreal have been experiencing -27 C (~16 F) which puts them at the same temperature as the barren prairie lands of central Canada. British Columbia has fared much better this winter.