An extreme cold weather warning is in effect for the City of Toronto today as bone-chilling temperatures and dangerous wind chill values grip the city.
As of 9 a.m. on Monday morning, Environment Canada was reporting a temperature of -20 C at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, though with the wind chill it feels more like -32 C.
The federal weather agency says that wind chill values of “minus 30 to minus 38” will continue this morning, though things should ease off a bit Monday afternoon as the winds die down, rising to a high of -12 C with sunshine.
With the wind chill, the temperature hit -29 C – an improvement over the -35 C mark logged in the city around 4 a.m. It’s the kind of wind chill Toronto can go years without seeing, according to Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips – though he joked that it would be considered a “balmy” day in Winnipeg or Yellowknife.
The relief (if you can even call it that) won’t last long, however, as freezing cold temperatures return this evening. A forecasted low of – 20 C with a -27 C windchill means the “risk of frostbite” is real.
“Cover up,” warns Environment Canada. “Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.”