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Winter arrives late, bites hard in Canada, U.S.
Mon Feb 5, 1:50 PM
By Natalie Armstrong
TORONTO (Reuters) - Winter arrived late but compensated with a burning blast of cold in parts of eastern Canada and the northern United States on Monday, as plunging temperatures and biting winds made it deadly to be outdoors.
Toronto, Canada's largest city, took emergency measures to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters, while snow and frost halted some rail services in New York state.
"The parka was well back in our closet up until the middle of January and now it's the only thing we're using now," said David Phillips, spokesman for Environment Canada, noting Canada's record warm weather for December and much of January.
"The whole eastern half of North America is under this Siberian air. It's Arctic air and it's covering the entire country."
Temperatures were well below freezing in many cities, including a February 5 record low of minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) in the Prairie city of Winnipeg, often dubbed Winterpeg for its inclement weather.
In Ottawa, Canada's capital, the temperature fell to minus 25 Celsius (minus 13 Fahrenheit) with windchill that made it feel like minus 37 Celsius (minus 35 Fahrenheit). Officials issued a frostbite warning, which says exposed skin could be frostbitten within 10 minutes.
Phillips said Toronto has already had five days colder than last year's chilliest day, with half the winter still to go.
"This is not record-breaking but it's certainly colder than we had last year and so far this year," he said.
In the United States, national rail carrier Amtrak halted service between the New York state capital Albany and Niagara Falls to the west. Amtrak canceled seven trains and said the suspension would last at least through Monday night.
"It's extremely cold, there's a lot of snow piling up on the tracks, and they're having difficulty getting the trains going," said spokesman Cliff Cole.
In Boston's leather district, a homeless man was found dead after the temperatures dropped overnight. Locals bundled up in hats, coats and gloves and meteorologists warned of dangerous wind chills and 35 mph (55 kph) gusts of Arctic air.
Still, Phillips says January ended up being 3.3 degrees warmer than normal across Canada because the first half of the month was balmy, and it was the warmest December since records began 60 years ago.
Some sales outlets were taking advantage.
"We've had a lot of people coming in to buy long underwear," said Nancy Harrison, a service manager at Mountain Equipment Co-op, which specializes in outdoor gear.
"Mondays usually aren't very busy."
(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York, Roberta Rampton in Winnipeg and Jason Szep in Boston)
Source:Winter arrives late, bites hard in Canada, U.S. - Yahoo! Canada News
Mon Feb 5, 1:50 PM
By Natalie Armstrong
TORONTO (Reuters) - Winter arrived late but compensated with a burning blast of cold in parts of eastern Canada and the northern United States on Monday, as plunging temperatures and biting winds made it deadly to be outdoors.
Toronto, Canada's largest city, took emergency measures to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters, while snow and frost halted some rail services in New York state.
"The parka was well back in our closet up until the middle of January and now it's the only thing we're using now," said David Phillips, spokesman for Environment Canada, noting Canada's record warm weather for December and much of January.
"The whole eastern half of North America is under this Siberian air. It's Arctic air and it's covering the entire country."
Temperatures were well below freezing in many cities, including a February 5 record low of minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) in the Prairie city of Winnipeg, often dubbed Winterpeg for its inclement weather.
In Ottawa, Canada's capital, the temperature fell to minus 25 Celsius (minus 13 Fahrenheit) with windchill that made it feel like minus 37 Celsius (minus 35 Fahrenheit). Officials issued a frostbite warning, which says exposed skin could be frostbitten within 10 minutes.
Phillips said Toronto has already had five days colder than last year's chilliest day, with half the winter still to go.
"This is not record-breaking but it's certainly colder than we had last year and so far this year," he said.
In the United States, national rail carrier Amtrak halted service between the New York state capital Albany and Niagara Falls to the west. Amtrak canceled seven trains and said the suspension would last at least through Monday night.
"It's extremely cold, there's a lot of snow piling up on the tracks, and they're having difficulty getting the trains going," said spokesman Cliff Cole.
In Boston's leather district, a homeless man was found dead after the temperatures dropped overnight. Locals bundled up in hats, coats and gloves and meteorologists warned of dangerous wind chills and 35 mph (55 kph) gusts of Arctic air.
Still, Phillips says January ended up being 3.3 degrees warmer than normal across Canada because the first half of the month was balmy, and it was the warmest December since records began 60 years ago.
Some sales outlets were taking advantage.
"We've had a lot of people coming in to buy long underwear," said Nancy Harrison, a service manager at Mountain Equipment Co-op, which specializes in outdoor gear.
"Mondays usually aren't very busy."
(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York, Roberta Rampton in Winnipeg and Jason Szep in Boston)
Source:Winter arrives late, bites hard in Canada, U.S. - Yahoo! Canada News
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