Tens of thousands without power as winds lash Ontario
theweathernetwork.com
Tuesday, January 10, 2017, 8:35 PM - Tuesday was not a good day to be on Ontario's roads, thanks to a system that brought long periods of snow, followed by rains that made for a slushy mess.
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Though that system has all but departed the province, it had a sting in the tail manifesting as very strong winds, with gusts exceeding 100 km/h between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
Some wind warnings were still lingering in eastern Ontario before sunrise, expected to drop shortly, though winds will still be gusty before diminishing as the morning wanes.
The winds were strong enough to topple trees and power lines, such that widespread outages were reported by 6 a.m. The number fluctuated through the morning, and was near 60,000 by 1 p.m.
Several structures were blown down as well, including three homes under construction in Mississauga.
Wind caused downed trees and other damage overnight in the GTA. It's the worst day to be a garbage collector. #onstorm pic.twitter.com/Bl8qmZ4t1D
— Tony Smyth (@LateNightCam) January 11, 2017
Strong winds last night blew down three homes under construction in #mississauga #onstorm pic.twitter.com/8hbJTTHVAt
— Tom Stef (@vaughanweather) January 11, 2017
Damage to our equipment near #Huntsville. Crews continue restoration efforts & assessing damage in areas affected by the wind storm #ONstorm pic.twitter.com/O4Q8J4JT4z
— Hydro One (@HydroOne) January 11, 2017
Now, a new system is taking aim at the province, although its impact is not expected to be as great, and for most of the south of the province, it will manifest as rain, moving in later Wednesday as temperatures peak in the mid-single digits that day and Thursday.
"Rain moves in at the end of the rush hour commute tonight through the GTA and continues into Thursday," Weather Network meteorologist Matt Grinter said early Wednesday. "Snow in northern parts of central Ontario to start then the freezing line sinks south through Thursday eventually reaching the GTA Thursday Evening, bringing the risk of a mix to end."
Here's a full analysis of that system.
Looking ahead, the brief warm up ends as the weekend approaches as a strong Arctic high builds in late week, and Weather Network meteorologist Dr. Doug Gillham says the next system will likely target the province no earlier than Monday night.
"Some mixed precipitation is possible, changing to rain," he says. "A milder pattern then takes over for much of next week, next weekend and potentially into the start of the next week."
After that, colder weather returns for the rest of January, dominating through February, Gillham says.
