Environment Canada lifts 'extreme cold' warning, deep freeze may ...
Dangerously cold conditions gripped the region Sunday and hit a chilly new low Wednesday, when residents awoke to temperatures that felt like nearly -30 C with the wind chill.
Published Jan 17, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 2 minute read
Environment Canada’s extreme cold warning for the London region was lifted Wednesday morning, suggesting a days-long deep freeze may be set to finally ease. Just be gentle when you tell Ken Van Dyk.
Dangerously cold conditions gripped the region Sunday and hit a chilly new low Wednesday, when residents awoke to temperatures that felt like nearly -30 C with the wind chill. But as of Thursday, temperatures may climb back up above -20 C – the threshold that triggers emergency actions from city hall and social agencies to help the less fortunate.
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While the icy conditions have had officials mobilizing and many citizens essentially hibernating, others have embraced it. After three decades of helping maintain an outdoor skating rink in Woodstock, Van Dyk says this weather has been the most helpful he’s seen.
“We started (making the ice) on Sunday and we skated on Monday morning,” Van Dyk said. “That’s the best it’s ever been.”
Van Dyk’s son was a three-year-old just learning to skate when he started volunteering to maintain the rink in Donald Thompson Park. Now a grandfather, he’s done it annually ever since – and notes last winter was the worst ice-making weather he’s ever seen.
The biting cold that arrived in Southwestern Ontario on Sunday prompted London-area public health officials to issue their first cold weather alert of the season, a signal to London city hall to open up five warming centres for people who need them. That alert, triggered once the wind-chill temperatures hit -20 C, was in effect until Wednesday.
The forecast suggests it may be lifted. Environment Canada was calling for a Thursday morning low of -16 C with the windchill, and -10 C as the day goes on. Friday, the mercury will rise to about -12 C, the national weather agency projects.
The ugly cold snap wasn’t anywhere near record-breaking for the London region, which has endured much colder Januarys. But one meteorologist noted earlier this week the especially mild December made this hit much harder.
“It is potentially because we had such a mild December that it does feel so much worse than it is,” Steven Flisfeder said.
-With files from Mike Hensen, The London Free Press
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