Snow, ice, cold return to Windsor-Essex

Freezing rain and snow had city snow removal crews on standby overnight.

Pete Matheson, the City of Windsor's maintenance manager, said the salt and plows weren't really needed, though.

He says the warm weather of the past few days really heated up the streets.

"The road pavements would have to drop substantially before we'd get any freezing on any of the road surfaces," he said. "It really depends on the winds and the prolonged cold temperature.

"We may have some freezing on bridge decks where the air can get underneath and cool the pavement surfaces off, but for the most part, that's all we're foreseeing at this time, in terms of this event."

Environment Canada said in a media release issued Monday that a very sharp Arctic cold front would sweep across Southern Ontario on Monday afternoon and then move into Eastern Ontario.

Temperatures dipped to a low of -2 C with a potential record low of -5 C on the way overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

Ice pellets, freezing rain and snow fell Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

"It's not unheard of to get snow at this point in April but we'll definitely be looking at the temperature records. We could be seeing some of those tumbling [Tuesday] and Wednesday," said Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment Canada.

Temperatures will rise closer to normal by the end of the week, with a temperature of 12 C expected Thursday.

"It's not that often that we go from summer to winter, literally in a 24-hour timeframe," Coulson said. "Yes, spring, for sure, can see a lot of variability in temperatures over a short period of time. But this one is a very, very noticeable one, just for the fact that we've been so warm and so mild for the last few days."