Canadians returning to work after the holidays are facing treacherous driving conditions as a “polar vortex” brought sub-zero temperatures to the Prairies, and a massive storm system dumped freezing rain and snow across Eastern Canada, knocking out power for tens of thousands in Newfoundland.
Less than halfway through winter, Canada has seen “one of the more active” seasons in recent memory, Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said Sunday as the major storm system approached Southern Ontario and threatened to bring another bout of freezing rain to the region mere weeks after an ice storm left hundreds of thousands without power over the Christmas holiday.
“Not a day goes by where there’s not some region facing a weather warning,” Mr. Coulson said.
Weather warnings in the Prairies and Northern Ontario focused on a “bone-chilling” air mass from the Arctic that, coupled with high winds, would bring temperatures to “dangerous” levels.
Tyler Anderson / National PostA women walks through a streetcar shelter covered in messy winter slush and dirt in Chinatown as snow and rain begin to fall ahead of what is expected to be another winter storm in Toronto, Ontario, January 5, 2013.
Dangerous wind chills of -50 C blanketed much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba on Sunday, with similar readings expected to prevail this morning.
However, Environment Canada said temperatures in both provinces were expected to moderate by the afternoon, followed by “significant warming” later in the week.
The cold pool of air — dubbed a polar vortex by the U.S. National Weather Service — could cause record low temperatures in Southwestern Ontario on late Monday and Tuesday.
The vortex — a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air — was also said to be behind startling forecasts reaching below –30 C in North Dakota and –35 C in Minnesota.
Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian PressA pedestrian braves the blizzard conditions in Halifax on Friday, Jan. 3, 2014. The region is in the grip of unseasonably cold temperatures with heavy snow and high winds.
On Sunday, radar images showed the massive storm system spanning from Arkansas to Ontario, with southern states like Georgia expecting record-setting low temperatures of less than –13 C.
As the cold air mass collided with the massive storm system from the Southern U.S., Eastern Canada could see “anything coming down from the sky that you can think of,” Mr. Coulson said.
In Newfoundland, the battle against cold and darkness continued Sunday night when a generating station outside St. John’s unexpectedly shut down, leaving about 90,000 customers without power.
The blackout came as utility crews were making steady progress restoring power following a blizzard that dumped 40 centimetres of snow on the region Friday night. Hydro crews worked through the night and by Monday morning, only about 30,000 customers were in the dark. Newfoundland Power struggled to “keep on as many customers as possible” as the Hydro company warned that hour-long rolling blackouts would continue during peak usage hours.
Premier Kathy Dunderdale called on large energy consumers to conserve power in an attempt to bolster restoration efforts.
In the meantime, the province’s education minister, Clyde Jackman, said Sunday that all schools would be closed until Wednesday across Newfoundland. The campuses of Memorial University and College of the North Atlantic on the island portion of the province will also remain closed until Wednesday.
Around 190,000 residences were without power on the island Saturday after a fire broke out at a hydro terminal when a transformer malfunctioned. By Sunday, only 35,000 hydro customers were without power.
Andrew Vaughan / The Canadian PressA man clears a sidewalk in blizzard conditions in Halifax on Friday, Jan. 3, 2014
In Montreal, operations at Trudeau Airport were temporarily suspended during the night due to poor weather but resumed a few hours later. The airport‘s web site, however, showed numerous delays and cancellations.
Environment Canada had forecast 5 to 20 millimetres of freezing rain in southern and central Quebec through the night, with winds of over 90 kilometres per hour.
Environment Canada predicted that Windsor would see lows of around –27 C Tuesday, which would break the daily record for the city set in the 1940s.
Flights are also affected by weather at the Ottawa International Airport and the Jean-Lesage International Airport in Quebec City. Pearson International Airport in Toronto was also reporting multiple delays and cancellations.
Noah Pink/Special to the National PostLuggage chaos at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson airport at about 3 a.m. Monday morning.
All affected airports were advising travellers to check with their airline first before heading to the airport.
In New York City, a plane from Toronto landed at Kennedy International Airport and then slid into snow on a taxiway Sunday. No injuries were reported, but the airport temporarily suspended operations for domestic and international flights because of icy runways. Flights resumed around 10 a.m.
In Nova Scotia, heavy rain and wind were forecast across the Atlantic coast region and most of Cape Breton, with around 25 millimetres expected through Monday night.
Other areas of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island were under a freezing rain warning ahead of a welcome rush of “very mild air” expected in the afternoon.
AP Photo/Kathy WillensA snowplow makes its way on a slushy patch between two terminals after a Delta flight from Toronto to New York skidded off the runway into snow at Kennedy International Airport, temporarily halting all air travel into and out of the airport, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014, in New York.
However, punishing wind gusts of up to 130 kilometres an hour were forecast for Nova Scotia’s Inverness County and parts of Cape Breton.
In New Brunswick, freezing rain was likely to persist this morning in the southeast and along the Lower Saint John River Valley while freezing rain in the south was expected to change to rain by the morning.
Overnight snowfall of up to 10 centimetres, followed by ice pellets and freezing rain, was expected in central and northern regions of the province. After the freezing rain, up to 35 millimetres of rain was in the forecast, especially along the Fundy coast.
In Toronto, Environment Canada issued both a flash freeze and a wind chill warning early today as residents continue to recover from a massive holiday period ice storm that left 300,000 hydro customers in the dark.
“While there will likely be some power failures, it won’t likely be the same scale as the ice storm,” Mr. Coulson said.
The agency said as a period of snow, freezing rain and rain moves away from the city, it will drag a sharp Arctic cold front behind it, causing wet streets and sidewalks to freeze over. Motorists and pedestrians were urged to avoid travel because the flash freeze may have a significant impact on the morning commute.
Environment Canada also warned that the wind chill in the Toronto area would range from -35 C to -40 C on Monday night into Tuesday morning.
The mix of snow and freezing rain on Sunday night created hazardous driving conditions, with provincial police reporting “hundreds of collisions.”
Northwestern Ontario, meanwhile, was under a wind chill warning, where icy winds were making it feel as cold as -45 C.
With files from the National Post, the Associated Press
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