A major winter storm pushed across the region last week, bringing prolonged hours of blizzard conditions to many areas. Motorists on the roads became stranded as very strong wind gusts combined with falling snow made travel conditions treacherous. Environment and Climate Change Canada issued widespread Blizzard Warnings, which hadn't been issued in many areas for multiple years.
Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton, Elgin and London-Middlesex were all under a Blizzard Warning on December 23, 2022 for multiple hours as visibility was significantly reduced and travel became almost impossible across the region. Wind gusts of over 120 km/h were reported as a Blizzard Warning also continued for the Niagara region as well as Huron, Perth, Grey and Bruce counties. A Blizzard Warning was also issued across Eastern Ontario as visibility became significantly reduced.
Multiple road closures were put into effect, primarily on December 23, 2022, due to rapidly deteriorating weather and road conditions. Highway 401 from Tilbury to London and the entire Highway 402 were closed for the better part of over 24 hours due to multiple collisions.
The largest threat from this winter storm was the strong winds that created the blizzard conditions and knocked out power to over 80,000 customers. With many losing power, a concern on Friday was the extreme cold that showed a wind chill of -35°C in the strongest wind gusts.
Conditions began to improve on December 24, but the strong winds continued throughout the day which caused continuing blowing and drifting snow. For Christmas Day and Boxing Day, conditions still improved, but road closures continued until roads became clear to travel on.
Advance Weather would like to thank the hard work of all our snow plow operators, tow truck operators, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, hydro crews, healthcare workers, all municipalities that opened warming centers, and everyone who helped out during the winter storm. We would also like to thank all members of the public who took in stranded motorists in the peak of the storm when wind chill values were near -30°C and it became impossible to travel.
This winter storm is a reminder of how weather can rapidly change and have a large impact on your life. We thank Environment and Climate Change Canada, as well as the National Weather Service, for their dedication to forecasting during the storm. Advance Weather is committed to providing timely and accurate information to the public, and we will continue our dedication to you during future weather events.
We have attached some photos and tweets below, used with permission from the public. We thank the members of the public who gave us permission to use their photos and videos from this historic weather event.
For more information about our forecasts from this winter storm and to read an archive, click here.