Record warmth in Sarnia-Lambton Thursday will be short-lived with a sharp return to frigid temperatures by the weekend.
At 2pm Thursday the temperature at Chris Hadfield Airport had climbed to nearly 12 C (54 F), surpassing the previous record high for January 11 of 11.1 C (52 F) set in 1975.
Environment Canada's special weather statement remains in effect.
Meteorologist Geoff Coulson says there'll be a mix of precipitation Friday as cold Arctic air returns.
"Freezing rain in the 7am to 10am time frame on Friday morning and then a switch over to snow as we get towards midday on Friday, says Coulson. "Not expecting a lot in the way of snowfall, it looks like the heaviest snow amounts are going to stay well to the east of the Sarnia area, so maybe 2-4 cm."
A moisture-laden storm system tracking south of the lower Great Lakes will bring heavier snow amounts into southern parts of the Niagara Region and eastern Ontario.
A flood of cold air Friday night into Saturday morning, however, is expected to produce off-lake snow squalls that will impact Sarnia-Lambton through the day Saturday and into Sunday.
"The wind direction looks to be more straight north and that does have implications for Sarnia itself or areas just to the east of Sarnia being impacted by this lake-effect activity," says Coulson.