Cold air is on the move—and it’s heading straight for southern Ontario.
A bout of frigid Arctic air spilling south this weekend will bring the season’s coldest temperatures in the final days before Christmas.
Readings in Toronto could come perilously close to -20°C on Saturday night, a feat we haven’t seen in the month of December since last decade.
DON’T MISS: Will Canada have a white Christmas in 2024?
While all eyes are on a snowy system that could snarl travel across southern Ontario for our day on Friday, a noteworthy chill will sweep into the region immediately after.
Frigid temperatures marching east across the Prairies will descend on Ontario to start the weekend. Toronto isn’t expected to see above-freezing temperatures again until next Tuesday—and it gets even worse.
Forecasters expect Saturday night’s low temperature to dip down to around -19°C. This will be the coldest reading we’ve seen all season. The last time we got this cold in Toronto was back on Feb. 4, 2023.
RELATED: What is wind chill and why does it ‘feel’ so miserable?
If we manage to get down to -20°C, it’ll be the first time Toronto has hit the mark in December since 2017. It’s rare to get that cold this early in the season—before 2017, the last time Toronto had seen a -20°C reading in December was back in 2004.
Breezy conditions will make for even colder wind chill values this weekend. The feels-like value in Toronto could dip to -17 during the day, making it uncomfortably cold for folks out and about enjoying festivities.
Things will get even colder from there. Wind chills will bottom out in the mid-minus 20s on Saturday night, which is plenty cold enough to risk frostbite and hypothermia within 30 minutes without proper protection.