By Kyle Duggan and Brett Throop
Forecast predicts Wednesday’s commute will be nasty
Ottawa will be whomped by the first snowstorm of the year Tuesday night, the first in a year that’s expected to be colder than usual, according to the national weather service.
The weather service issued the winter storm warning for Tuesday night and Wednesday.
Dave Phillips, Environment Canada’s chief climatologist, said there could be a significant amount of snow in the Ottawa area and there could be rain or freezing rain.
“The morning commute might be a little bit on the messy side, with some blowing snow – that kind of a situation,” he said.
The warning calls for 10-15 centimetres of snow Tuesday night, followed by another 5-10 Wednesday.
“You haven’t had much of a winter. London’s had 60 or 70 centimetres of snow and Ottawa has had traces of snow, about six centimetres total,” Phillips said.
He said this is nothing surprising. “It probably won’t be the biggest storm of the winter. There’ll still be lots of time for that.”
Phillips said after the system passes through Ottawa and heads toward Quebec and the Maritimes, Ottawa should see “some very nice sunshine and temperatures a little on the cool side.”
The weather warning cautioned driving conditions are expected to rapidly worsen tonight and tomorrow. City police reported over 50 accidents in an hour on Saturday after Ottawa’s first snowfall of the year.
Look ahead
Environment Canada is preparing its winter outlook and expects to issue it within the next week or so. But this year their crystal ball is a little cloudier than normal.
Phillips said the water temperatures in the Pacific that normally control the winter aren’t warm or cold right now, making it hard to forecast.
“There’s not a lot of skill in a forecast where the water temperature is rather neutral. It’s more for curiosity’s sake. I don’t think anybody should invest any money in it, or make any plans on it, or cancel your Florida trip,” he said.
But Phillips said it’s clearly going to be more of a winter than it was two years ago, “when we almost cancelled winter.” That was one of the warmest Ottawa winters on record with about half the usual snowfall.
Last winter, he said, was slightly warmer than normal, with about 12 per cent more snowfall than usual.
“My sense is this year we may be colder than last year but we may not see as much snow,” he said.
But Phillips said he wouldn’t bet the family farm on it. “There’s no guarantees with weather in Canada, that’s for sure,” he said.
Ready for winter
Students react to storm and winter forecast
Carleton University students waiting for the bus took the forecast’s message in different ways.
Ben Fieldwebster said when preparing for winter, he simply gets his winter coat out of the closet.
He said he thinks buses will probably run late tomorrow, but that won’t change his daily commute plans. “I’m not going to get up any earlier. I don’t want it to eat into my sleep time.”
Raina Wilcox said she has been in Texas for the last 10 years so stormy, snowy weather will be new to her. She lives off-campus, but will now probably stay on campus overnight. “I have an 8:30 class tomorrow morning. Especially because of that snow storm, I’m going to stay on campus.”
Wilcox joked the colder-than-normal winter “sounds like fun.”
