Intense winter weather is impacting EVERY province in Canada today

Dec 23 2022, 4:46 pm

Winter weather is lashing a massive amount of Canada just days before Christmas, with bitter cold, heavy snow, freezing rain, and ice pellets. Hello, December!

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s website of public weather alerts, there is a flurry of warnings in place for 13 provinces and territories in Canada today, creating a holiday travel nightmare for major airports.

From extreme cold warnings in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to snowfall, extreme cold, and freezing rain warnings across BC, let’s see what wicked comes our way today.

winter weather Canada

Environment and Climate Change Canada

BC

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has issued more than 50 warnings for spots across the province, including a winter storm warning for Metro Vancouver stating that “travel conditions will be challenging due to heavy snow, ice pellets, freezing rain, and heavy rain on snow or ice, with most of the south coast being impacted.”

The time frame of the storm is from today into Christmas Eve on Saturday, with threats including heavy snow followed by freezing rain, heavy rain, and localized strong winds resulting in wind chill values down to -15°C this morning.

Alberta

Extreme cold has blanketed Alberta for most of this week, with extreme cold warnings remaining in place Friday morning for a vast portion of the province, including Edmonton and Calgary.

“Extremely cold wind chill values between minus 40 and minus 50 will moderate in most regions later today,” the federal weather agency stated in its warning.

“Temperatures will be very cold again tonight in some areas in northern Alberta. Temperatures will be milder for the entire province by the end of this weekend.”

Ontario

A major winter storm is moving through Ontario on Friday, with winter storm warnings in effect for major cities including Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton.

The ECCC stated that a “major winter storm will start today and go into Saturday, with travel set to become hazardous and is not advised.”

Hazards include flash freezes, producing icy and slippery surfaces this morning; wind gusts up to 90 km/h, resulting in widespread blowing snow which will reduce visibility to near zero at times; snow amounts of 5 to 15 cm by Saturday morning; and wind chill values into the minus twenties.

Quebec

Winter storm, storm surge, wind, flash freeze and snowfall warnings are in place for various areas of Quebec thanks to the complex storm system moving through the province today.

A total of 30 to 50 centimetres of snow is expected in some areas of the province, with total amounts for the event possibly reaching “70 centimetres locally, especially over higher terrain,” the federal weather agency stated for one warning.

You can check out the full list of warnings for Alberta, BC, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and New Brunswick here.

Laine MitchellLaine Mitchell

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