OTTAWA -- Ottawa marked a dubious distinction Wednesday morning, but only briefly.
At 7 a.m. EDT, Ottawa was the coldest national capital city on Earth, and was, according to timeanddate.com, the only capital city with a temperature below zero.
The temperature at the Ottawa Airport at 7 a.m. was -5.8°C, rounded up to -6°C. There was also a wind chill of -14.
Other world capitals that compete for the title of coldest capital city, like Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia or Moscow, Russia, were more than 10 degrees warmer, though admittedly later in their respective days, and Ottawa's forecast high for Wednesday is still below where some of the coldest capital competitors had already reached.
Within the same time zone, Washington D.C. was still warmer with a temperature of 4°C at 7 a.m.
Quito, Ecuador, started off near zero, but quickly warmed to around 8°C by 7 a.m. Ottawa time, and has a double-digit high. Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands, was at around 3°C and may hit 5°C by midday.
By 10:00 a.m. EDT, Ulaanbaatar took back the mantle of the coldest capital city currently in the world as it fell to -7°C in the evening and Ottawa warmed slightly to -4°C. Ulaanbaatar is 12 hours ahead of Ottawa.
This wintry April weather is almost over but, even after the sun comes back out, don't expect a return to seasonal temperatures right away.
The Ottawa Airport recorded two centimetres of snow accumulation Tuesday, following off-and-on snow flurries that caused brief whiteouts at times.
Not quite a record for snow. Environment Canada's record for snowfall for April 21 is 3.3 cm, set in 1956.
Mixed in with the snow, Tuesday, was 3.2 millimetres of rain.
A chance of flurries continues Wednesday morning.
It's April 22.
By the afternoon, only a few clouds will remain, and there's a lingering chance of flurries, but it won't be very warm. Wednesday's high of 3°C, as of Environment Canada's 11 a.m. weather update, is about nine degrees below the seasonal average.
The sky should be clear in the evening, but with a forecast low of -8°C overnight, April 23 is on track to be the coldest in Ottawa on record.
The low temperature record for April 23 is -4.4°C, set in 1945, according to Environment Canada.
The outlook for the next three days is sunny, with gradually increasing highs. Thursday could see a high of around 7°C, Friday's forecast high is 11°C, and by Saturday, Ottawa could see a return to normal, late-April weather with sunshine and a high of 13°C.
Overnight temperatures this week, however, are in record low territory and we could see new records Friday morning and possibly Saturday morning.
