Freezing rain, ice pellets coating Ottawa-Gatineau region
Ottawa's LRT is entirely shut down, more than 60,000 Ottawa customers without power
The Ottawa-Gatineau region remains under freezing rain warnings Wednesday. Rainfall warnings have also been added to the mix.
Environment Canada is still warning that if enough precipitation falls on Ottawa-Gatineau and areas to its east and west as freezing rain versus ice pellets, it could potentially cause ice storm conditions with hydro outages and tree damage.
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Ottawa is warning residents to be prepared by having flashlights and batteries available.
Hydro Ottawa reports about 60,000 customers didn't have power around 9 p.m.
About 47,000 eastern Ontario Hydro One customers didn't have power, nor did about 100,000 Hydro-Québec customers in the Outaouais.
Cancellations, closures
While it isn't directly linking it to the freezing rain, OC Transpo says a light rail power problem has closed the entire Confederation Line. R1 bus service is in place.
Freezing rain led to a multi-day shutdown of the line in January.
Canada Post says it has stopped delivering mail in western Quebec and may not be able to deliver it in eastern Ontario because of the weather.
The City of Ottawa announced its recreational and cultural facilities would be closing at 4 p.m., an email from that department said.
Facilities that host after-school programs will remain open and parents will be contacted to arrange a pickup.
Schools are closed in western Quebec, and while they're generally open in eastern Ontario, school buses are only running in the Kingston and Belleville areas.
Some boards and service centres, such as the Western Québec School Board, say staff should work remotely. The Centre de services scolaire au Cœur-des-Vallées says classes are cancelled.
As always, it's best to check with your board, service centre or school about what your specific options are.
Some CEGEPs have suspended classes. Algonquin College cancelled classes at its Pembroke campus in the morning and around 1:45 p.m., cancelled remaining classes in Ottawa and Perth.
There are a few schedule changes due to the weather. Check flight status before coming to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YOW?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#YOW</a> and give yourself extra time to get here!<br><br>Certains vols sont affectés par la météo. Vérifiez l'état d'un vol avant de vous déplacer. Il faudra du temps supplémentaire pour vous rendre! <a href="https://t.co/jYLIKK2LAo">pic.twitter.com/jYLIKK2LAo</a>
—@FlyYOWThe freezing rain timeline
By about 6:45 a.m., freezing rain was falling on rural west Ottawa, moving to central Ottawa around 7:15 a.m. and mixing with ice pellets later in the morning.
A change to rain will happen when temperatures rise high enough. For Ottawa-Gatineau, that could come late in the afternoon.
That change could happen earlier in the afternoon to the south in places such as Brockville, Cornwall and Kingston. The freezing rain warning ended in Belleville around 12:20 p.m.
Rainfall warnings were issued for all of eastern Ontario except for the Deep River area late Wednesday morning. Thirty to 50 millimetres of rain may fall and that could go even higher if thunderstorms hit.
Western Quebec outside of Gatineau could see freezing rain until around midnight.
Ottawa's temperature is expected to hang around the freezing point all Wednesday before rising overnight to a forecasted high of 10 C Thursday.
