THUNDER BAY – Winter hangs on! Across Thunder Bay it looks more like Christmas than April. Snowfall overnight has made sidewalks slippery, and covered vehicles with a coating of snow. Reports of snowfall amounts of eight inches to a foot of snow are being made by readers.
Local wags are commenting that what is needed is some ‘global warming – and soon!’. However, looking at the maximums and minimum temperatures for April the record high was in 1942 when it was 28.3c. The record cold was in 1954 when it was -22.2c.
Environment Canada is calling for periods of snow ending this afternoon then cloudy conditions. The weather service predicts 2 cm of snow and a high of plus 2. Tonight it should be cloudy with a low of minus 8. For Sunday, the forecast is for a mix of sun and cloud.
Unfortunately, there is more snow forecast for Sunday, beginning in the evening. Amounts of 2 to 4 cm are predicted.
The weather has caused several traffic accidents.
Roadways and sidewalks were covered with snow on Friday afternoon. City crews have been out overnight clearing snow.
Conditions are worse in Southern Ontario
There are over 115,000 Hydro One customers without power in Ontario. The power supplier reports, “Freezing rain and high winds continue to cause outages on Hydro One’s distribution system. Hydro One crews are working to assess damage and make repairs to more than 600 separate damage incidents affecting 115,000 customers”.
“This storm caused significant damage to our system, knocking down more than 200 poles and damaging lines in a swath that stretches from St. Thomas to Kingston,” said Len McMillan, Vice President, Operations and Maintenance, Hydro One. “We have mobilized every available resource and thank our customers for their patience as we work to restore power.”
All available lines staff, apprentice crews, foresters and damage assessors are working on the restoration efforts. High winds have grounded Hydro One’s helicopters, but crews are on standby to help with restoration once flying conditions improve.
Hydro One expects to restore power to a significant number of customers by tonight but cautions that some customers may be without power throughout the weekend.
