The Weather Network
Welcome

-43.7 C: Ontario town records its coldest temperature in 42 years

Nathan Howes and Tyler HamiltonDigital Journalist and Meteorologist
Published on Jan. 24, 2026, 7:48 PM

While Toronto, London and Trenton, Ont., recorded their most frigid temperatures in several years during the early-morning hours on Saturday, another Ontario community reached its chilliest value in more than four decades

Ontario is the midst of its coldest temperatures this winter, and for some, their chilliest in years.

Kirkland Lake, Ont., bottomed out at an extremely cold, -43.7 C low early Saturday morning. It occurred as much of the province endured through a lobe of the polar vortex that has weakened, and has been displaced from its position in the Far North.

The bone-chilling, overnight value recorded in Kirkland Lake was its coldest since Jan. 21, 1984 (-44.0 C).

Kirkland Lake, Ont., coldest temperature in 42 years

It isn't just Ontario feeling the wrath of the 'vortex. The extreme cold is being felt across an expansive stretch of North America. In fact, parts of the U.S. Midwest have been so cold that warnings have been issued for possible "exploding trees," but it's not exactly what it sounds like.

Other notable Ontario figures on Saturday morning:

  • Trenton: Coldest since Feb 4., 2023 (–32.1 C)

  • Toronto (Pearson airport): Coldest since Feb 4., 2023 (–21.4 C)

  • London: Coldest since Jan 29., 2022 (–25.5 C)

Wickedly cold values on Saturday morning:

  • -43.7 C Kirkland Lake

  • -38.6 C Marathon

  • -38.2 C Algonquin

  • -38.0 C Bancroft

  • -36.4 C Muskoka Airport

  • -33.9 C Peterborough

  • -30.4 C Stouffville

  • -29.3 C Trenton

  • -23.2 C London

  • -22.4 C Hamilton

  • -20.8 C Toronto (Pearson airport)

Ontario extreme cold Saturday morning

There is no end in sight to the cold, either. Yellow-coded cold warnings have been reissued in southern Ontario.

Next week will be frigid still. High temperatures will mostly be in the negative teens with lows mostly in the -20s. Colder-than-normal temperatures are expected into the first few days of February, but temperatures should recover to seasonal towards Feb. 5.

Content continues below

However, any relief from the cold pattern is expected to be brief. A colder-than-normal pattern is expected to return during the second week of February and dominate through mid-, and possibly late month.

With files from Dr. Doug Gillham, a meteorologist at The Weather Network.