Not that we really got out of it. It’s been abnormally cold since Christmas Day. Today we are under an extreme cold alert. Niagara- my home turf
Environment Canada has issued a cold weather alert for all of Niagara, projecting that a "prolonged period of very cold wind chills" will hit the area starting tonight.And Niagara Region's health unit has followed suit.Temperatures will fall rapidly this evening to reach lows near - 20 C, says the weather agency. Wind chill values due to northwest winds near 50 km/h will be near make it feel like - 30 C tonight.Temperatures and wind chill values will be slightly lower Friday night. The extreme cold will continue until Saturday morning.
Ice coverage on Lake Erie is about two to three weeks ahead of where it would be normally, says a senior ice forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service.With colder weather in the forecast, Jason Ross says the lake could be almost completely frozen over by the end of the month.“Usually we would see that early to mid-February,” says Ross, adding when Lake Erie freezes over it’s usually between 95 to 98 per cent covered.Right now, the lake is between 42 and 45 per cent ice-covered, mainly concentrated in the western basin where the water is shallower.Comparing past records, he says the lake would normally be between eight and 10 per cent covered.“There hasn’t been this much ice at this time of year,” Ross says.“Ice growth is directly proportional to the temperature. If the temperature is –15 C, on average it would take a week to two weeks to go from a couple of centimetres thick to more than 15 centimetres. That’s more or less the conditions we’ve had.”
The colder the air is above the lakes, the more heat that is extracted from the water, and that also helps ice form faster. Calm weather also plays a role in ice formation
The cold spell the lakes are experiencing isn’t expected to end anytime soon
When the lakes are cool or warm they affect the regional temps. The Lakes are moderators of the Niagara climate.- Link "The Great Lakes also have a big influence on the climate" Link If the lakes are cold the region is colder.. Two & three winters ago, it was extremely frigid, think Polar Vortex and we had vastly cooler summers.Ottawa
The reprieve from the deep freeze appears to be a brief one.Environment Canada issued a fresh extreme cold alert at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, warning of another extended stretch of frigid temperatures and “very cold wind chills” expected to descend rapidly on the region.After two days of temperatures hovering around -10 C, the mercury will plummet overnight Thursday, with overnight lows expected to reach -20 to -25.
Toronto opening more warming centresAtlantic Canada Gears up for Weather Bomb
As much of the rest of the country has been in wia deep freeze, the monster storm, which will batter Nova Scotia starting Thursday morning, is also expected to pummel Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland with heavy snow and winds. The system is forecast to pack hurricane-force wind gusts of up to 140 kilometres an hour in Cape Breton and 180 kms/h in one area of Newfoundland.
UKUSAmerica’s Power Grid showing signs of strain during brutal cold
America’s power grid is starting to show signs of fatigue as the nation grapples with a record-breaking cold snap.In the Midwest, some natural gas plants are having trouble getting supplies, forcing outages and increased use of fuel oil, Dustin Smith, a spokesman for the Southwest Power Pool, said on Tuesday.Some power plants in New England that have been burning oil are running short on fuel, according to Marcia Blomberg, a spokeswoman for ISO New England Inc., the region’s grid operator. Restrictions governing air emissions are also a factor limiting their use.“As oil inventories are depleted, replenishment of these fuels will be important given the uncertainty around weather and future fuel demands for the remaining two months of the winter period,” she said by email on Tuesday.What fails in extreme cold- Just about everything:
This is how cold is way more dangerous then warm
You can’t fight fire with ice. (This was an issue with a couple of fires around Christmas- couldn't get them put out quickly because of the extreme cold) That’s a frozen fact that public safety officials are grappling with as extreme cold continues to grip Washington and much of the rest of the country this week
As the ground freezes and water mains break you may have no water- To cook, drink or bathe. And not to fight fires, again.
Plumbers have their own low-temp truisms (pipes burst), as do drivers (batteries fail), engineers (metal breaks) and doctors (joints ache from cold, bones crack from falls). It’s all the toll of the cold. When the air gets down near zero, parts fail and people despair. From freight rails to frost bite, a deep freeze can mean deep trouble for a city — and a species — built to operate at more temperate temperatures.Crews are struggling to keep up with a record number of fractured water mains, with dozens reported in the Maryland suburbs. D.C. Water was working to fix 50 others while fielding more than 200 emergency calls a day tied to the frigid temperaturesMore than 5,000 motorists in the District, Maryland and Virginia called for help before the worst cold weather even hit.
Sadly people are dying from the cold- In the US, Canada and other placesEven sharks froze to death!Cold is vastly harder, for all living things to contend with then warm. And extreme cold is extremely difficult. Going to pile still more blankets on the bed. Dreading the heating and electricity bills from this extended cold spell. Expecting my car battery to be finished off... Particularly if this continues on through January.