“We haven’t seen the end of the cold air and we could be into another deep freeze by the end of next week.”
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Published Jan 20, 2025 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 3 minute read
The temperature in Ottawa will plunge to -21 C Monday night, bringing with it a risk of frostbite, but not cold enough to trigger an extreme cold weather warning from the city.
The mass of Arctic air blanketing much of eastern North America arrived as expected Sunday, though the temperature in Ottawa remained a few degrees above what was predicted, said Peter Kimball, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.
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“We accurately predicted the cold weather would hit Sunday, with the coldest day hitting Monday into Tuesday and ending Wednesday, and that’s pretty much what we’re getting,” Kimball said Monday. “The difference is maybe the overnight lows were a couple of degrees warmer than we thought they would be.”
But spare a thought for those frozen souls just to the north of us.
“We saw a report of -47 C in northern Quebec this morning and the -30s were not far away,” he said.
North Bay, 300 kilometres up the Ottawa Valley, saw temperatures dip to -28 C Monday morning. In Sudbury, Ont., it was -29 C and in Val d’Or, Que., it was -36 C.
“We’re in the same air mass, but just not quite so cold,” Kimball said.
An extreme cold weather warning from Environment Canada for Arnprior, Renfrew and the Ottawa Valley was lifted at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 20 while in Ottawa, the daytime high hovered around -16 C in dazzling sunshine.
The “Arctic blast” that forced the inauguration ceremony for U.S. President Donald Trump indoors for the first time in 40 years made for a balmy -5 C day in the U.S. capital.
Ottawa’s predicted low Monday was a far cry from the record -33.3 C recorded in 1920. On Jan. 20, 2024, the high was -10 C and the low -17 C.
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