Powerful Wind Storm Targeting Southern Ontario on Sunday With Wind Gusts Up to 115km/h Around the Great Lakes

After what has been quite a mild week with multiple days of record-breaking warm temperatures, it’s back to reality for Southern Ontario. We’ve seen more seasonal temperatures for this time of the year with daytime highs in the single digits and overnight lows dipping below the freezing mark over the past few days. Now, we’re monitoring a potent classic fall system that will affect Southern Ontario starting late Saturday and lasting through Sunday.

That storm will come in the form of some heavy rainfall with accumulation from 15-25mm for most areas, but more concerning is the potentially damaging wind gusts that will come with the system. Areas near the shorelines of Georgian Bay, Lake Ontario, Huron and Erie could see wind gusts reaching as high as 100-115km/h during the morning and afternoon hours on Sunday. Further inland, wind gusts will still be quite strong ranging from 80-100km/h. This will likely cause some tree branches to come down and perhaps localized power outages.

The strong winds will begin to pick up in intensity just after midnight into the early hours of Sunday with the most damaging winds expected during the mid to late morning and early afternoon on Sunday. Don’t be surprised to be woken up by the howling winds early Sunday morning especially if you live along the shorelines where the 100+km/h gusts are expected. Also, make sure to bring in anything that might blow away (ie. holiday decorations).

The hardest-hit region will be the aforementioned shorelines around the Great Lakes specifically locations such as Prince Edward County, Port Colburne, Grand Bend, Goderich and Kincardine. Expect wind gusts over 90km/h here with the potential to go as high as 115km/h (especially the northeastern Lake Erie shoreline). Also should be mentioned that these strong winds could cause some issues in areas prone to flooding from storm surge so flooding is possible. Surrounding regions including those around Georgian Bay such as Parry Sound, Leamington, Oshawa, Belleville, Kingston, Collingwood and Midland will also see wind gusts over 90km/h but should stay below 100km/h for the most part. Refer to the zoomed-in maps below for the information specific to your location. The rest of Southern Ontario (except for northern parts of Eastern Ontario) can expect wind gusts ranging from 80-90km/h with a few localized areas exceeding 90km/h. Those in the northern part of Eastern Ontario including the Ottawa Valley will see wind gusts between 70-80km/h.

The wind gusts will begin to die down as we head into Sunday evening with the lingering rainfall from the system transitioning over to wet snow as colder air floods in behind the exiting system. This will set the stage for the potential for lake effect snow next week that may bring significant snowfall to the typical snowbelts around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. It’s unclear on who exactly could see the heaviest accumulation as we’re still several days away so stay tuned for a more detailed forecast on that in the coming days.