Extreme cold warnings return for most of Ottawa-Gatineau area

Here comes another January 2022 cold snap Thursday night into Friday.

Environment Canada has issued its third batch of local extreme cold warnings in fewer than two weeks, now covering the entire Ottawa-Gatineau region except for the Kingston and Belleville areas.

The coldest temperatures are in parts of western Quebec where the wind could make –32 C feel closer to –40 on Thursday night. Its temperature got about that cold on Jan. 11 and 16.

Thursday's high is –19 C in Maniwaki and Friday's –18 C, close to the average low for this time of year.

Most communities in eastern Ontario could see a wind chill around –35 overnight. The forecast for Ottawa calls for a high of –16 C Thursday, a low of –29 C Thursday night, and a high of –18 C Friday.

The Kingston area is expected to feel a few degrees warmer than that, with the wind expected to make it feel like –30 at its coldest overnight.

Colder January than in recent years

The freeze comes after warmer temperatures Wednesday; the capital went from –4 C at 10 p.m. to –18 C at 5 a.m. Thursday.

Environment Canada's average temperature for Ottawa this January is –12.5 C, similar to that month in 2019. In January 2021 that was –7.2 C and –6.4 C in 2020.

The lowest temperature on record for Jan. 21 in Ottawa is –31.1 C in 1943.

Saturday's highs are generally below average, but less extreme than the end of the work week, and a bit warmer than last Saturday's extreme cold. Sunday's highs are warmer still, but that night could bring another temperature plunge.