Tuesday marks coldest day in Ottawa in nearly four years
Tuesday was the first born-chilling day of the year, and the coldest the city has seen in the last four years.
Tuesday saw temperatures hover around the -20 C mark but with the wind chill, it felt more like -30 C. At 8 a.m. ET, Ottawa as the coldest national capital city on Earth.
Some construction crews braved the cold and worked through the day. Dylan Boltz began his shift at 7 a.m. and after nearly five hours outside, the frost was building up on his eyebrows.
“It’s very cold,” says Boltz. “But it’s not too bad if you stay moving and it’s important to dress properly and gear yourself up with the proper gear.”
While Monday’s overnight extreme-cold advisory ended in the early morning, many commuters were faced with stalled vehicles. By early afternoon, CAA had already handled nearly 700 calls.
“Ninety per cent of our calls today are for battery boost related calls and it’s definitely due to the cold extreme weather,” says Michael Schmidt, CAA north and east Ontario operations manager. “Being prepared for the winter is being prepared for any type of breakdown you never know when an emergency is going to occur you never know when your car is going to be unreliable.”
Schmidt says having a roadside safety kit with essentials that includes booster cables, gloves, a reflector and flashlight as well as blanket will ensure readiness in case of lost cell service or having to wait on the side of a road.
Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips says so far, it hasn’t been too bad and that this kind of freezing should have happened months ago.
“But hey, we’re now into the middle of January and we’re still lacking the snow. There’s only two centimetres sitting on the ground in Ottawa,” says Phillips. “It’s turned cold. It’s going to eventually stay cold for a while and I think any precipitation that falls will be the white stuff. I think you’re going to see more shovelling, plowing, and pushing but boy, you got a lot of snow to make up … I only see little bits of flurries from here to there but no major system coming over the next couple of weeks.”
While the cold was here Tuesday, it will likely be gone Wednesday, as clouds roll in and the mercury rises. Flurries are expected to begin overnight, and the temperature is actually supposed to rise overnight to minus 8 C.
The flurries continue into Wednesday, and will end in the afternoon but the temperature could be a balmy high of 0 C.
On Thursday, a mix of sun and clouds and a high of -6 C.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Pharmacare bill passes in the House of Commons, heads to the Senate
The Liberals' pharmacare bill is headed to the Senate after passing third reading in the House of Commons.
National Bank of Canada seizes Ont. woman’s car by mistake
A university student woke up one morning to find her car had been towed away without warning. She finally got answers - just not the ones she expected.
More Canadians are moving to the U.S. Here's one of the main reasons, according to an immigration expert
Recent data from the U.S. census revealed that more than 126,000 people moved from Canada to the U.S. in 2022. An expert said that one of the main reasons for this move is the cost of living.
MPs 'wittingly' took part in foreign interference: national security committee
Some MPs began 'wittingly assisting' foreign state actors soon after their election, says a report released Monday, including sending confidential information to Indian officials.
Her gut was producing alcohol. Doctors didn't believe her
For two years doctors told her she was an alcoholic. Then they realized her gut was making alcohol from carbohydrates, a rare condition called auto-brewery syndrome.
Bus carrying Quebec tourists crashes in Cuba, leaving 1 dead and 26 injured
One person is dead and 26 were injured after a bus carrying Quebec tourists was involved in a collision in Cuba on Sunday.
Here's how far B.C. drivers must keep from cyclists, pedestrians under new law
A new law protecting cyclists and pedestrians in British Columbia takes effect Monday, establishing minimum distances that drivers must keep from so-called vulnerable road users.
N.L. becomes latest province to eye stricter tobacco regulations
Newfoundland and Labrador has floated an eyebrow-raising trial balloon in a bid to further the public health fight against tobacco and nicotine.
Forest bathing: What it is and why some Alberta doctors recommend it
Many people are familiar with the benefits of being in nature, but forest therapy goes a step further than a simple walk in the woods.