Ottawa·Weather

Ottawa area in grips of record cold snap

Many communities have broken low temperature records for Nov. 12 and 13.

Many communities have broken low temperature records for Nov. 12, 13

Along with the record cold temperatures, a total of 12.8 cm of snow fell in Ottawa between Nov. 11 and 12. (Francis Ferland/CBC)

It's very cold outside.

Ottawa, Kingston, Cornwall and Maniwaki were all at either -14 or -15 C as of 5 a.m., breaking low temperature records on Environment Canada's books for Nov. 13.

All four had record lows yesterday as well.

Pembroke fell just short yesterday and though it was also -15 C this morning, its record low is even lower.

The high is getting up to -8 C around noon, without much wind chill or cloud.

That's still 13 degrees cooler than the usual daytime high in mid-November.

A few cm of snow overnight

Expect light snow overnight and a low of -10, with more light snow tomorrow and a high of -2 C, with a -10 wind chill.

The region should see four to six centimetres of snow, except Kingston, where its high of 3 C may bring about some rain.

Maniwaki should get just a dusting of snow overnight into tomorrow.

Thursday night's low is a relatively pleasant -1 C, with a high of 2 C Friday — then a dive back into record low territory that night.

It's looking like a sunny weekend that's much colder Saturday than Sunday, and Monday is still where this string of below-average daytime highs in Ottawa looks set to end.

It's currently at eight days and if it ends Monday, would peter out at 12.