Weather alerts issued in all 10 provinces, 2 territories

CTV National News: Wild weather across Canada Environment Canada issued weather alerts across all of Canada, warning of wild temperature changes in Ont. and Que. Allison Bamford reports.

From heavy rain to extreme cold, Environment Canada issued weather alerts for all 10 provinces and two territories on Wednesday.

Ontario and Quebec

Much of Ontario and Quebec were under flash freeze warnings on Wednesday, including Ottawa and Montreal, with currently mild temperatures expected to drop dramatically below freezing beginning Tuesday afternoon, leading to icy travel conditions on roads and walkways.

Parts of northern Ontario and Quebec are also under winter storm warnings, with high winds and more than 20 centimetres of snow expected in some regions. Snow squall watches are meanwhile in effect for some areas near Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron in Ontario.

Atlantic Canada

Rainfall and wind warnings also covered much of Atlantic Canada on Wednesday.

Some areas of New Brunswick could see up to 100 millimetres of rain from Wednesday through Thursday morning, along with damaging winds of 70 to 80 km/h or higher.

Strong winds and heavy but smaller amounts of rain are also expected in Nova Scotia, while Prince Edward Island is being warned of strong southerly wind gusts of up to 90 km/h.

Potentially damaging "wreckhouse winds" of up to 120 km/h are also in the forecast for southwestern Newfoundland.

Prairies and Alberta

Moving west, extreme cold warnings stretch across parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario, where wind chill values could reach -45 through Wednesday morning.

B.C. and the territories

In B.C., snowfall warnings are in place for parts of the Central Coast and Fraser Valley, where 20 centimetres or more is in the forecast through Wednesday afternoon. East Vancouver Island was also under a rainfall warning, with 50 mm expected from overnight through late Wednesday afternoon.

Yukon was the only territory not under a weather alert on Wednesday, while some parts of Nunavut and Northwest Territories were under extreme cold warnings, with wind chill values reaching as low as -55 on Wednesday morning.

A full list of current weather warnings is available on Environment Canada's website.