Winter fights back: 20-degree drop in Ontario, snow returns
Friday, March 3, 2017, 7:30 PM - Winter has made a spectacular return to form in southern Ontario this week, at least as far as temperatures go.
Daytime highs were comfortably in the mid-teens Wednesday, but have tumbled precipitously since then, such that Friday's daytime highs sloped to the negative single-digits, feeling colder than -10 with the windchill.
Lake-effect snow began to fall for the snowbelt regions through the day Thursday, with 5 cm in the forecast -- 10 cm locally for areas south of Bruce Peninsula -- by the end of the event early Saturday.
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Highlights
- Lake-effect snow that began Thursday could bring 10+ cm to snowbelt regions through early Saturday
- Friday night and Saturday to feature some of the coldest weather of the winter for eastern Ontario and southern Quebec.
- Warm front brings brief period of wet snow to southern Ontario late Sunday.
Friday night is expected to be one of the coldest of 2017 so far, with wind chills stretching into the negative mid teens for many communities, and weekend will be generally cold, with daytime highs below zero, though with sun and cloud.
That changes somewhat as a warm front tracks across southern Ontario late Sunday, with a brief period of wet snow changing to rain before ending.
"It will be very mild early next week ahead of potent Prairie system that tracks into northwestern Ontario – rain extends north all the way to James/Hudson Bay!" Weather Network meteorologist Dr. Doug Gillham says. "It will be windy with periods of rain for Great Lakes with double digit highs, then turning colder for the middle of next week."
Forecasters are keeping an eye on the later part of the week, with the potential for a couple of fast-moving clipper systems, whose snowfall, if any, will be dependent on the temperature gradient.
"The location of the boundary will be the key as to whether we see some impactful winter weather vs. returning to early spring-like weather," Gillham says.
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