Icy Roads

Freezing rain on Riverside in Ottawa at 3:30pm Sunday. Photo SB

I am rarely caught by surprise when it comes to weather, but I was last night. I was driving back from Ottawa when the snow turned to freezing rain. The freezing rain was steady and heavy in places and iced up the roads quickly. Despite it being above freezing when I left Kemptville, the Ottawa region was still well below freezing with a light northeast wind. It has since warmed up to well above freezing but not before a dozen accidents including a fatal collision at Albion and Rideau in rural south end Ottawa occurred late Sunday afternoon.

Please slow down, it is going to be a very unsettled week with mild air being replaced by cold air again and plenty of opportunities for roads to ice up. There will also be several rounds of snow this week, and it will be very cold next week up to Christmas.

• In other weather news, roads are still closed across the Dakotas, Montana and some in Saskatchewan after a fierce blizzard over the weekend created zero visibility and high drifts. It is frigid as well with wind chills below -40C, and as cold as -60 in places.

• Hydro Quebec has sent down 25 teams of linemen to New Hampshire to help restore power after last weeks ice storm. Nearly 1 million people were left without power after nearly an inch of freezing rain fell. 9 counties in Massachusetts have been declared federal disaster areas as well as several in southern New Hampshire. Power is expected to be restored by weeks end but workers are being hampered by thousands of downed trees.