Freezing rain continues to coat Ottawa’s roads, sidewalks, and infrastructure in a dangerous layer of ice.
Environment Canada’s orange warning for freezing rain remained in place Monday morning, forecasting as much as 15 to 20 mm of ice build-up. The freezing rain was expected to transition to light drizzle this morning.
Commuters faced slick surfaces and treacherous conditions this morning, with roads and walkways becoming icy and slippery. The Ottawa Police warned residents that all non-essential travel should be avoided and to consider rescheduling non-urgent appointments.
Environment Canada warned that “there may be a significant impact on rush hour traffic.” But by late morning, most roads were moving as normal.
The weather service issued a second advisory that strong winds were expected later Monday with gusts as high as 70 km/h, which could cause damage to trees and hydro infrastructure coated in ice.
The high winds will be brought in by a cold front, which will see afternoon temperatures dip to -2 C before falling to -15 C overnight.
The weather prompted Hydro Ottawa crews to be on standby in anticipation of any power outages. Residents were advised to prepare by charging devices and having emergency supplies on hand.
By mid Monday morning, no outages were reported on the Hydro Ottawa outage map.
