Winter storm promises messy Wednesday for much of eastern Canada

A storm working its way up from Texas will be brushing past Ontario and Quebec on its way to the Maritimes, dropping enough snow overnight tonight to make Wednesday morning's commute into work a bit more treacherous.

This storm is delivering yet another major hit of snow and ice to the US Northeast and through Nova Scotia on Wednesday, but it'll be swinging just far enough northward that southern regions of Ontario and Quebec will be seeing some of this snow as well. Around 5 centimetres of the white stuff is expected to be on the ground by Wednesday morning along a line from Windsor to Kingston, with another 10-15 centimetres expected throughout the day.

That should slow down both the morning and evening commutes in southwestern and central Ontario by a bit, due to some slippery road conditions and reduced visibility.

The highest amounts are expected around the western end of Lake Ontario due to snow squalls, and snowfall warnings are in effect from the west end of the GTA around into the Niagara Peninsula. The rest of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec should start to see the snow by morning, with up to 10 centimetres by evening, affecting the evening commute through those regions.

New Brunswick and PEI will be seeing some of the snow as well, but the highest amounts will fall across Nova Scotia, as the 'main event' from the storm moves through the northeast United States and passes over southwestern and Atlantic coast regions of the province. Up to 15 centimetres of snow is expected by Wednesday night, and even more will likely fall by Thursday morning.

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This isn't the only blast of wintry weather for the country, though. Regardless of what your local furry forecaster prognosticated on Sunday, noone is escaping from winter just yet.

Frigid cold has descended across the western half of Canada, with temperatures dipping to around -30°C in the prairies and wind chills clawing towards -40 through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In Alberta, the downright balmy weather they were enjoying in January is gone now, and although it's not quite as cold as what their neighbours to the east are experiencing, the weather is certainly making a valiant attempt to match those Arctic chills.

Even British Columbia isn't being spared this cold snap. An 'Arctic outflow' through the mountain valleys and along the coast is dropping temperatures to at or below freezing, with wind chills down around -10 to -15 degrees. That may not seem like much, compared to what the rest of the country has been dealing with, but it all comes down to what we're used to, and these conditions are around 10 to 20 degrees colder than the province usually sees at this time of year.

(Photo courtesy: The Canadian Press)

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