Very, very big chill’s duration unusual
Much of Canada remains in freezer
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 parts of northern B.C, the Prairies, Ontario and western Quebec, and due to spread into the Maritimes.
Nova Scotia was already dealing with a winter weather system that snapped hydro poles and knocked out electricity for thousands.
The province’s utility was working Wednesday to complete restoration of power, mainly on the province’s south shore.
The Christmas morning storm delivered gusts that clocked more than 100 kilometres per hours in some areas.
Meanwhile, the winds in Channel-Port aux Basques on Newfoundland’s southwestern coast often blow hard, but trucker Terry Osmond said he can’t remember a holiday weekend when the gusts have hit his town with such force.
“It’s terrible,” he said Wednesday, as he drove his fuel truck just kilometres from the port where the Marine Atlantic ferry that runs to Nova Scotia was tied up due to high seas.
“We’ve been at it for the past three days now, and we’ve had blizzard conditions at times,” said Osmond, 57.
As he made his deliveries on Wednesday, he took photos of the damage, including roofing that blew off the local Home Hardware store and siding that was detached from buildings.
Much of Newfoundland and Labrador was under wind or blizzard warnings on Wednesday, and Marine Atlantic ferry service between Port aux Basques and North Sydney, N.S., was cancelled.
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.
A 77-year-old man died from hypothermia Tuesday after leaving his vehicle following a crash in Hamilton, police said.
In Ottawa, extreme cold forced organizers of the Bell Capital Cup international youth hockey tournament to cancel its outdoor games. Matches scheduled to take place Wednesday at the Canada 150 rink on Parliament Hill will be played indoors instead, tournament staff said.