Winter is announcing its early presence with authority across the country today.
The Prairie provinces are mired in a bitter cold snap. Environment Canada has issued wind chill warnings across the region, affecting large parts of Manitoba and Alberta and almost all of Saskatchewan.
Most can expect temperatures of -40 degrees Celsius, dropping to as low as -50 C in some parts of the province over the next 24 hours.
While the forecast for major cities such as Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatoon are all hovering around -30 C, forecasters are calling for a frigid -45 C once the wind-chill is factored in.
Environment Canada is blaming the freeze on Arctic air coupled with a Northwesterly wind and has warned that frostbite could occur on exposed skin in 10 minutes or less for most of the Prairies.
Meanwhile in Ontario, most of cottage country continues to dig itself out from 48-hours worth of heavy snowfall.
Communities on the Bruce Peninsula and Georgian Bay were buried under as much as a metre of snow in some places, accumulated over the past two days. Local roads have reopened, though OPP Const. Peter Leon told CTV News that traffic is slow moving towards Bracebridge along Highway 11.
Clean up on the roads is expected to take a couple of days to complete, with local police advising any drivers braving the roads to have a cellphone, winter emergency kit and a full tank of gas.
Leon said the Ministry of Transportation has brought in additional resources from neighbouring towns in the region to help.
"I know they're going to be working probably around the clock from all indications, trying to get the roads back to normal as soon as possible, but with people getting stuck (inside) the past couple of days they feel the need to get out there, but all it takes is one vehicle to spin out," he said.
Conditions in the region for Saturday called for only a light dusting of flurries while in the Prairie provinces winds are expected to die down by the middle of Sunday.
On the upside, most major cities across the Prairies are only expected to get a light dusting of snow, if any.
Winter will even be visiting parts of B.C this weekend with Vancouver and Victoria expected to get a light dusting of snow.
With files from The Canadian Press
