People bundled up in cold weather. (BlackburnNews.com photo by Melanie Irwin)People bundled up in cold weather. (BlackburnNews.com photo by Melanie Irwin)
London

Frigid Weather Sticking Around

Environment Canada's extreme cold warning may be over, but that doesn't mean this frigid weather is going away anytime soon.

A blast of Arctic air coupled with light west winds will see morning low temperatures in the minus mid-teens, with a wind chill that will make it feel more like -25 C for the rest of the week.

Although an extreme cold warning that was issued late Tuesday came to an end Wednesday morning, Environment Canada Meteorologist Peter Kimbell notes the sub-zero temperatures are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

"We have cold weather persisting to the end of the year and that will be continuing into the first week of January 2018," said Kimbell. "We are seeing cold weather across the country and southwestern Ontario is no exception. It's causing extreme cold warnings almost coast to coast. The threshold for extreme cold warning in southwestern Ontario is -30 C and we saw a wind chill close to that (Wednesday) morning, it probably exceeded it if we considered wind gusts."

The current forecast has the region's temperature roughly 10 degrees below normal. For this time of year, seasonal highs should be around the -2 C mark, while normal lows tend to hover around -8 C.

Light lake-effect bands of snow could drop a few centimetres on areas of Ontario to the southeast of Lake Huron, said Kimbell.

He advises anyone venturing outdoors to bundle up to avoid frostbite and hypothermia.

"Dress in layers to keep yourself protected from the cold and check up on older people, people who are more vulnerable to make sure they do have heat," said Kimbell.

When temperatures are this cold, frostbite can develop on exposed skin within minutes.

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