WeatherSummaryforOntario January2023:AMostlyMildMonth

Temperatures

The majority of January was characterized by well above normal temperatures across the province, with some areas seeing temperatures as much as 6oC above normal. For some locations, it was one of the top five warmest Januariesonrecord.Lookingatindividualdays, several of them were very mild. In fact, from January 15 to 17, daily temperatures across northern Ontario were more than 16oC above normal. The greatest departure from normal occurred at Moosonee on January 16 when temperatures were an incredible 21.3oC above normal! Despite the very mild days, the main storywasreallyaboutthelongevityoftheabove normal temperatures. From about Christmas through to the last few days of January, many

Obituary

Kenneth Robert Mcauley

Passed Away Peacefully With His Daughter And Son By His Side At The Chapleau Health Services On Sunday, January 29, 2023 At The Age Of 77 Years.

Predeceased By His Common-law Wife Glenda Rose Gherbaz. Loving Father Of Terri-ann Bouchard(danny),DeborahMcauley,Late Lisa Mcauley And Michael Mcauley (meganO'link).ProudGrandfatherOfEric, Robert “bobby” And Jaden. Son Of The LateGeorgeAndNellie“toy”Mcauley.Dear Brother Of Robert Mcauley (liason) And David Mcauley. He Will Be Remembered By His Nieces And Nephews. At Ken's Request There Will Be No Funeral Services. Cremation Has Taken Place At River'sEdgeCremationCentre,SaultSte. Marie. Memorial Donations Made To The Alzheimer Society Would Be Greatly Appreciated By The Family. The Family Would Like To Send A Thank You To The Nurses At The Bignucolo Residence For TheCareTheyHaveGivenToKenDuring HisYearsThere.(arrangementsEntrusted ToTheKerryFuneralHome,Wawa,On,1800-439-4937).www.kerryfuneralhome.ca placeshadonlyoneor two (and sometimes zero) days with below normaltemperatures.

The last few days of the month featured temperatures that were well below normalacrossportions of northern Ontario, where daily temperatures were as much as 12oC below normal. Over the south, temperatures fell to nearnormalvalues.

Precipitation

With the exception of the far north where precipitation was near normal, much of northern Ontario receivedbelownormalprecipitation,andinsome casesitwaslessthan50%ofthenormalamount. Forthemostpart,southernOntarioreceivednear normalamountsofprecipitation.Thiscamefrom several weather systems that affected the area overthecourseofthemonthwithrain,snowand freezingrain.

Lookingatjustsnowfall,muchofeastern Ontario towards the Golden Horseshoe and up towards the Nickel Belt in northeastern Ontario received near to above normal amounts. In fact, overeasternOntarioclosetotheQuebecborder, snowfall amounts were more than 150% of average. The 96.5 cm recorded at the Ottawa AirportmadeitthesecondsnowiestJanuaryever reported there. Record keeping began there in 1938.Lakeeffectsnowwasgenerallylacking,as there were very few instances of cold arctic air invadingintotheregion.Asaresult,thesnowbelt regions near Lake Huron and Georgian Bay receivedslightlybelownormalprecipitation.

SignificantEvents

January 4 to 5: Wintry Mix in Southern and NortheasternOntario

Alow pressure system brought a wintry mix of precipitation to much of the province. Northeastern Ontario saw a mix of snow, ice pellets and freezing rain. North Bay and Gore Bay had nearly 5 hours of freezing rain and freezing drizzle. Sudbury, Warren and Barrage Temiscamingue all received 15 to 16 cm of snowfall.CentralandeasternOntariostartedout with rain that evolved into freezing rain as temperatures dropped overnight. Significant freezing rain in Ottawa caused damage and a partialoutagetotheirtransitsystem,whichtook multiple days to fully repair. Reports from Cornwall indicated significant ice build up on trees caused some to split in half and others fell ontocars.BythemorningofJanuary5,justunder 9000 Hydro One customers were affected by poweroutagesacrosscentralandeasternOntario. TheremainderofsouthernOntarioreceivedrain and a few isolated thunderstorms, with Whitby andFishervillereceiving37.8mmand33.0mm of rain, respectively. Downtown Toronto reported20.6mmofrain,whichcausedflooding toanunderpass.

January 12 to 13: Wintry Mix in Southern Ontario(Again)

AColoradolowbroughtawintrymixof precipitation to southern Ontario, creating slippery conditions and causing numerous collisions across the region. Snow and freezing rain were the main concern for eastern Ontario. The highest snowfall amounts occurred over easternOntario,whichwascombinedwithafew hours of freezing rain and/or freezing drizzle. Ottawa Airport received 5.5 hours of freezing rainandfreezingdrizzleand26cmofsnowfall, causing flight delays and cancellations. Buses were also cancelled across eastern Ontario. The restofsouthernOntariosawachangefromrainto snow. Kingston, Mississauga, and Woodstock each received just less than 5 cm of snowfall. Police responded to dozens of collisions on GreaterTorontoAreahighwaysafterrain Cont’donP.5