Bone-Chilling Temperatures and Snow Squalls Around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay for the End of January; Up to 30cm of Snow Possible Between Thursday and Friday

After some parts of the snowbelts got pounded with significant snowfall accumulation last week, yet another round of snow squalls is expected to develop Thursday evening and linger into Friday. This time the squalls won’t be as intense or prolonged so it’s unlikely we’ll see totals near 50cm like last time. The target zone of these squalls will be along the southeastern shoreline of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay with accumulation between 20-30cm in the hardest-hit areas by the end of Friday. For the rest of Southern Ontario, we’ll see what is likely the coldest air of the season so far with morning lows near -20°C and the wind chill making it feel close to -30°C both on Friday and Saturday morning.

Some lake effect snow has already developed off Lake Huron and Georgian Bay as of Thursday afternoon and the bands are only expected to become more organized and intense later tonight and into early Friday morning. A particularly strong band is expected to set up stretching from somewhere between Point Clark and Goderich stretching as far inland as Stratford. This band will sink southward later Friday morning and affect areas just to the northeast of London. It will linger throughout the day on Friday before weakening around the dinner hours.

Those closest to Lake Huron including Goderich, Wingham, Stratford, Exeter and Strathroy have the potential to see around 20-30cm of snowfall accumulation with locally over 30cm by the end of Friday. As with every lake effect event, note that not everyone will see these significant amounts and it’s quite hard to pinpoint exactly how much an area could see. Outside of this region, locations such as London, Listowel, Hanover and Kincardine will see around 10-20cm of accumulation. All other areas will receive less than 10cm of snowfall accumulation from the lake effect snow.

Persistent lake effect snow is also expected around the southeastern shoreline of Georgian Bay affecting areas like Collingwood and Angus. A small pocket away from the shoreline south and southeast of Collingwood including Angus could pick up between 20-30cm. The squall may become intense at times and stretch across Hwy 400 into the Bradford and Newmarket area mainly during the early hours on Friday. This could deliver around 5-15cm of fresh snowfall accumulation in only a few hours by sunrise on Friday. The lake effect activity around Georgian Bay could persist well into Friday evening and perhaps even past the midnight hour although it will be mostly contained right along the shoreline.