Strong winds pummeling Toronto

If April’s unseasonably cold weather has taken the wind out of your sails, try visiting Toronto during 90 kilometer-per-hour gusts to get it back.

While parts of southeastern Canada saw heavy snowfall on Tuesday, Toronto is experiencing rain and sustained winds strong enough to draw a warning from Environment Canada on Wednesday.

“A sharp arctic cold front will blast east across the region early this morning,” the national weather agency’s advisory read. “Very strong westerly winds will develop in its wake.”

The wind was expected to taper off Wednesday evening, but as of this afternoon, Toronto Hydro has already reported dozens of outages across the GTA.

“Due to high winds, we’re receiving multiple wires-down calls across the city,” the power utility said in a statement on Twitter. “Crews are responding as quickly & safely as possible.”

Bob Smerbeck, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather, said such strong winds are capable of causing damage not only to power lines, but to trees and houses.

“Those kinds of winds can knock over trees…they can cause trees to fall into power lines,” he said.

“Any kind of yard furniture or yard debris that’s not tied down is going to blow all over the place, and sometimes winds that strong can knock shingles off of roofs. It can be dangerous, especially if the wind is tumbling trees onto roadways.”

Smerbeck describes the storm centre in southern Ontario as “spinning up tight like a top,” with areas north of Lake Ontario, like Toronto, being hit hardest.

“As we speak Toronto Island airport has had sustained winds of 50 to 60 kilometres per hour,” he said, adding sustained winds in a Category 1 hurricane reach 119 km/h.

Meanwhile, Torontonians have taken to social media to document the windy weather.

What about you? Have you felt the wind today? Tell us in the comments.