Here’s what January’s winter weather will look like in Ontario

Though the little wintry accumulation that Toronto received over the holidays has all but melted away, other parts of Ontario are presently being buried in up to 80 cm of snow to kick off the New Year — and it looks like the city won’t be as immune to the realities season in the coming weeks as it was during our relatively mild December.

As below-zero temperatures and bitter wind chill settle in amid scattered flurries during these first few days of 2025, forecasts are calling for thermometers across the province to plummet even further, hitting below seasonal levels as we push on into January.

The latest weather outlook for the month, courtesy of The Weather Network (TWN), indicates that the centre swath of the country is about to experience a polar vortex that will peak next week, which will be the coldest one of the season.

While this deep freeze will extend from western Manitoba to eastern Quebec, it is not expected to bring many winter storms — that is, with the exception of the Great Lakes Region.

TWN’s outlook from Friday anticipates “frequent shots of Arctic air [that] will produce an abundance of lake-effect snow for parts of the Great Lakes region” thanks to a chunk of the polar vortex being centred over the Hudson Bay area.

But, the agency adds that the worst of the weather will likely hit stateside thanks to jetstreams, with “primarily clippers and cold fronts bringing relatively minor amounts of snow” on Ontario’s end.

Counterintuitively enough, it’s actually the warm-up that will follow in the second half of the month that could potentially bring squalls and messy commutes to the non-snowbelt locales in the province.

As the cold recedes in the latter weeks of January, Southern Ontario will return back to near seasonal temps, flipping the script on B.C., which will get far colder after enjoying a milder start to the month.

“However, keep in mind that late January is the coldest time of the year for most of Canada, so it is possible to see high-impact winter storms with above-seasonal temperatures… the transition from a cold pattern to a milder pattern could actually bring the highest impact winter weather of the season if the storm track is just south of the international border,” TWN writes.

“While this pattern could bring the proverbial January thaw to parts of Eastern Canada, this setup also makes the Great Lakes to Atlantic Canada the battleground between the frigid weather and the milder conditions — and such regions are vulnerable to winter storms.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)’s present forecast for the City of Toronto includes chances of flurries over the weekend amid temperatures slightly below zero, followed by a mix of sun and cloud on Monday through Wednesday, when temps will cool down slightly to between -4 C and – 6 C.

The snow is set to make a return again on Thursday, per both ECCC and TWN, with thermometers staying below zero (and double-digit negatives with wind chill) for the remainder of the month.