CHICAGO: An Arctic snap gripped most of Canada and a large
swath of the northern United States on Wednesday, with unusually low
temperatures recorded in both countries.
In Canada,
extreme cold warnings were issued for scores of communities across the
country, including the heavily populated provinces of Ontario and
Quebec.
While Toronto reported temperatures of minus 15
degrees Celsius and Ottawa minus 25 degrees Celsius, the coldest spot in
Canada was minus 42.8 degrees Celsius in Armstrong, Ontario, according
to Environment Canada. Extreme cold warnings are issued “when very cold
temperatures or wind chill creates an elevated risk to health such as
frost bite and hypothermia,” the government agency said.
The
temperatures were 10 to 20 degrees below what is normal for the season,
said meteorologist Alexandre Parent with Environment Canada.
The deep cold is forecast to remain until early January, he said.
“In my memory I have never seen cold weather that settles for such a long time in such a broad expanse,” Parent said.
High
winds of up to 120km per hour linked to the low temperatures have left
almost 160,000 homes in the eastern province of Nova Scotia — almost
one-third of the power company’s customers — without electricity,
officials said.
Record snowfall in Eire
In
the United States, brutal sub-zero temperatures were recorded in places
like Duluth, Minnesota (minus 37.7 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday, and
Minot, North Dakota (minus 29 degrees Celsius). A storm dumped a
record-breaking five feet of snow in a 48-hour period on the
Pennsylvania city of Erie, forcing officials to declare an emergency.
Residents
shared stunning photos of the whiteout on social media, with
meteorologists attributing the 58 inches of snow that fell over
Christmas Day, Monday, to 5pm on Tuesday to icy winds blowing over the
adjoining Lake Erie, one of North America’s Great Lakes.
More snow was expected at a rate of up to an inch or two per hour as residents were warned to stay off the roads.
Weather disrupts UK flights
Meanwhile,
Britain suffered power outages and travel disruption on Wednesday, with
flights delayed because of brief runway closures as adverse weather hit
large swathes of the country.
More than 73,000 homes
were left without power in central and southern English regions through
the morning, due to snow and high winds.
Western Power
Distribution — serving 7.8 million customers in western and central
England and Wales — said 52,705 households had been restored by 4pm,
with another 1,500 to be back by midnight.
Scottish and
Southern Electricity Networks, covering some of the other areas
impacted, said it had restored power to 17,100 customers by lunchtime.
Another 1,800 remained without electricity by the evening.
