On the weekend of Jan. 23-25, a powerful cold front known as a polar vortex, brought extremely cold weather to the majority of Eastern Canada, with temperatures dropping as low as -50 degrees Celsius in northwestern Ontario and the prairies. Unstable winter conditions of winds blowing at 40 kilometres per hour in southwestern Quebec made travel dangerous and ill advised throughout the weekend and at the beginning of the week. Downtown Toronto saw a record-breaking amount of snowfall reaching more than 50 centimetres, beating the previous record of 48.3 centimetres back on Jan. 11, 1994 by 13 additional centimetres. Jan. 25, 2026 now holds the new record at 56 centimetres of snow.
This bone chilling environmental phenomenon was intensified by the effects of an atmospheric river that coincided with the polar vortex. This in itself was caused by a warmer than average Arctic that allowed the frigid arctic air to travel lower than normal. This difference in temperature bred the perfect conditions for an abnormally severe snow storm. Prior to this, the Weather Network forecasted on Jan. 19 that areas such as Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, Ontario, and Quebec would be at a high risk of receiving arctic air, while British Columbia and the West Coast would remain at a low risk.
There were severe effects felt countrywide, where air travel was also significantly impacted by the snow storm. Approximately 65 per cent of all flights inbound and 64 per cent outbound flights from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport were directly impacted with delays and cancellations from Saturday, Jan. 24 to Sunday, Jan. 25. In Montreal, the old Hempstead Substation suffered equipment failures that left more than 12,000 individuals with no electricity, and over 5,300 homes were still impacted throughout Montreal as of early Monday, Jan. 26.
The extreme cold and electricity outage has already claimed the lives of at least two people in Quebec, who perished due to hypothermia. In these conditions, when the outside temperature is below -30 degrees Celcius, it is so cold that frostbite can occur in less than half an hour.
The snow in Ontario may be sticking around for several days as the temperature will stay below 0 throughout the upcoming days, meaning the snow will not be melting away anytime soon. 24 hours later, Ontario’s police officials reportedly attended and helped around 200 vehicles that became involved in accidents because of the treacherous transit conditions. An additional 150 cars that were stuck in ditches also received aid from this department.
In Toronto, schools reopened on Tuesday, but the effort to clean up after the historic snowfall continues. Over 600 plows and 1,300 people were contracted to help restore passage through roads and sidewalks. The heavy snowfall of Sunday, Jan. 25 delivered enough snow to bring up Toronto’s monthly total to 88.2 centimetres — the highest it has ever been, cementing this year’s snowfall in the history books.
