The temperature has swung back to cold after Wednesday’s wet weather

A coating of ice is seen on a tree branch in Ottawa. March 11, 2026. (CTV News Ottawa)

A chill will remain in the air a day after a freezing rainstorm soaked the capital.

Ottawa saw 22.7 millimetres of precipitation on Wednesday, according to Environment Canada, falling in a mixture of rain and freezing rain. The freezing rain warning that was in effect for Ottawa ended early Thursday.

Some surfaces such as sidewalks remain slippery Thursday morning with the temperature remaining below freezing.

The forecast for Ottawa calls for a few flurries in the morning followed by a 40 per cent chance of additional flurries in the afternoon and a high of -2 C with a wind chill around -12.

Thursday night is looking cloudy. The overnight low is -8 C.

Friday could see approximately five centimetres of snow with a high of -1 C.

Saturday’s outlook is cloudy with a high of 0 C and a 40 per cent chance of flurries.

More snow is in the forecast for Sunday.

Power outages across region

Thousands of people remain without power Thursday morning following the storm.

Hydro One is reporting approximately 4,500 customers in eastern Ontario remain without power because of outages scattered across the region. Restoration times are estimated between Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon.

In western Quebec, nearly 30,000 customers are without power, according to Hydro Quebec.

The utility says 20,430 addresses in Gatineau, 357 addresses in La-Vallée-de-la-Gatineau, 2,554 addresses in Les-Collines-de-l-Outaouais, 5,136 addresses in Papineau, and 784 addresses in Pontiac were offline as of 8 a.m., with restoration expected by the afternoon.

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