Long cold spell unusual: expert

Environment Canada says it’s not about how cold it is, but how long this wave of frigid air will stay around that’s unusual.

Meteorologist Alexandre Parent said Wednesday the big chill is affecting the Prairies, Ontario and western Quebec and was to spread into the Maritimes.

Parent said northern Ontario was being hardest hit with the current cold snap, with temperatures expected to feel like -50 C with the wind chill in some places.

“The size of this cold wave in terms of geographical distribution is quite exceptional for this early in the winter season.

“What’s also exceptional is the duration of this episode,” he said, noting that the extreme cold weather could hang over Quebec for the next seven days.

The weather specialist said he had to go back to 1993 to find a similar cold spell between Christmas and Jan. 1.

Temperatures were colder then, but the extreme cold didn’t stay around for long.

“The last few years we had one or two days of cold weather, but usually those were compensated by a few days near zero which is not the case this year,” Parent said.

“It’s the span of days with ten to fifteen degrees below normal which are exceptional.”

A 77-year-old man died from hypothermia Tuesday after leaving his vehicle following a crash in Hamilton, police said.

The cold conditions were expected to stick around until the weekend.