‘Coldest air in three years’ expected in Toronto by Friday
Posted January 31, 2023 10:17 am.
Last Updated February 1, 2023 9:43 am.
Toronto residents are waking up to the coldest morning of the year on Wednesday, and temperatures are only going to fall before the weekend arrives.
The city remains under an extreme cold weather alert as a potent part of the polar vortex takes hold. The worst of the frigid air is expected to be felt on Friday and into Saturday morning.
CityNews meteorologist Jill Taylor says the cold snap comes after a prolonged stretch of relatively mild January weather.
“Some of the coldest highs that we’ve experienced in about three years by Friday,” Taylor says, adding that the overnight low heading into Saturday could be the coldest air in the city since 2016.
Dress for a wind chill near -19 to -21 #Toronto GTA if you are just heading out on this Feb 1st morning. If you think it’s cold now, wait until Friday! It will feel like -30 most of the day. The high Friday near -16°C ???? Extreme cold is brief though. By Sunday up to 3or 4°C!
— Jill Taylor (@JillTaylorCity) February 1, 2023
The high for Friday is -16 C, and it is expected to drop down to colder than -20 C overnight. That’s not even factoring in potential windchill.
Then the forecast switches up on the weekend with a high of 3 C expected on Sunday and things staying on the milder side next week. Taylor says temperatures could even reach 6 C.
The City of Toronto announced they have opened a fourth warming centre in the downtown core. Cecil Community Centre near College Street and Spadina Avenue will offer space for 30 unhoused Torontonians to spend the night.
Toronto warming centre locations
- Cecil Community Centre – 55 Cecil St
- Metro Hall – 55 John St
- Scarborough Civic Centre – 150 Borough Dr
- Mitchell Field Community Centre – 89 Church Ave
Calls have been growing for the city to open more spaces in its warming centres this winter. Earlier this month, more than 1,000 faith leaders sent a letter to Mayor John Tory and city councillors, demanding an emergency meeting.
The Toronto Board of Health has passed a motion to review the use of emergency warming centres to address the effects of cold weather on those experiencing homelessness. The motion will now go to City Council for consideration at the next meeting on Feb. 7.
The city issues an alert whenever Environment Canada forecasts a temperature of -15 C or colder or a windchill of -20 or colder.
An alert can also be issued if the forecast includes factors that increase the impact of cold weather on health. These include precipitation, low daytime temperatures, or several days and nights of cold weather in a row.
