Residents across southern Ontario are bracing for plummeting temperatures over the weekend and into next week as a bone-chilling arctic air mass hovers over the region.
A polar vortex originating in the arctic is set to bring extremely cold temperatures southward, sending overnight lows into the negative 20s, and possibly -30s in the coming days.
“We are expecting temperatures to start to plummet on Saturday overnight into the Sunday morning period,” Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada told Now Toronto on Friday.
Torontonians should prepare for daytime highs around -10 C and overnight lows between -15 C and -20 C, with wind chills potentially reaching -30 C over the weekend.
About 2-5 cm of snowfall is also forecast for Toronto, possibly mixed with rain on Saturday.
While scattered showers are expected to reduce snow accumulation, they create an additional risk of ice, Flisfeder explained.
Nonetheless, he assured that these temperatures are not abnormal for the region, explaining that they typically occur two to three times a year.
“In the climatological 30-year period, we typically expect about two to three days of this type of weather. So, it’s not completely out of the range of normal, but it is definitely not something that people are overly accustomed to,” he said.
Daytime highs for this time of year are typically about -2 C, with average daytime lows sitting around -10 C. However, next week, daytime lows will be around – 10 C.
“…So, the daytime maxes [lows] in the forecast for next week will only be around where they should be in the overnight period,” Flisfeder said.
The coldest days will likely be Sunday through Thursday morning, with overnight lows ranging from -15 C to -20 C throughout the period, he concluded.
