Are you going out to greet 2018? Environment Canada says you'd better bundle up.
An arctic mass hanging over much of eastern North America is keeping temperatures low, and those hoping to go out Sunday night and welcome the new year should be prepared.
Windsor's record low for December 31 is -19.4C, recorded on New Year's Eve 1976. Arnold Ashton, severe weather meteorologist for Environment Canada, says there's a real possibility that record could fall like the Times Square ball.
"It's possible," says Ashton. "We're forecasting a low of -17, so it's going to be pretty close, within a couple of degrees, though it's always a little milder down in southwestern Ontario compared to areas farther north and east which doesn't have the effects of the lakes."
While temperatures have been a few degrees milder in the week between Christmas and New Year's, Ashton says the temperatures will retake a drop and remain that way for a little while.
"It's a giant lobe that extends down across much of eastern North America essentially," says Ashton. "That opens the door to arctic blasts coming in from the northwest."
The record low for Chatham-Kent on December 31 was -19C in 1983. For London, the coldest New Year's Eve recorded was in 1963 with a low of -23.3C.
The forecast for the region calls for cloudy skies and flurries likely for Sunday, with the threat of snow squalls for some areas and a high of -13. It will be cloudy and very cold for Sunday night with highs on New Year's Day at -11 with a mix of sun and cloud.