Polar Vortex To Bring Record Cold To Ontario, Quebec This Weekend

TORONTO — Winter may be behind us, but cool Arctic air could bring snow and sub-zero temperatures to millions of Canadians this weekend.

A polar vortex is heading towards Ontario and Quebec, potentially bringing snow showers and record-setting cold to Eastern Canada, just in time for Mother’s Day. 

Environment Canada is projecting a low of -4 C for Toronto overnight Friday into Saturday morning, which would break the lowest temperature record for May 9 of -2.2 C, which was set in 1966.

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brett Anderson told HuffPost Canada that air pressure over the Arctic is higher than normal, pushing cold air into Ontario, Quebec and parts of the eastern U.S.

The result is a blast of Arctic air that will make it feel like winter in May. 

“What is unusual in this case is the fact that the polar vortex is unusually strong for this late in the season and a piece of that vortex is actually going to get all the way down into southeastern Canada Friday into this weekend which is rare for May,” Anderson wrote in an email.

Temperatures are expected to be 8 to 15 C below normal for this time of year.

Widespread snow showers are expected across Ontario and Quebec beginning Thursday night and lasting into Saturday night, but don’t expect the white stuff to stick around, Anderson said.

“Roads should just be wet,” the meteorologist revealed, adding there could be more than 5 cm of snow over the Lake Huron snowbelts, the higher elevations of southeastern Quebec and up through northern New Brunswick during the period.  

The cool and potentially snowy conditions could reach as far as upstate New York and northern New England, according to Anderson, but they aren’t expected to last.

“We should see a much more typical May pattern setting up by late next week and beyond,” Anderson wrote.

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