A sharp cold front swept down Central Canada Wednesday as brutal cold continued to envelope the Prairies and snow created commuter problems in B.C.
The cold snap and strong winds left communities without power, closed schools, and created commuter problems. The bad weather has also led to at least two deaths.
In Ontario, about 90,000 residents were without power for part of Wednesday. By late Wednesday night, power had been restored to a majority of residences, but 20,000 people were still in the dark.
Toronto, under a flash freeze warning, experienced a high of 7 C on Tuesday with rain.
But the descending cold front has pushed the temperatures down to -8 with the wind chill making it feel like -19.
Some highways in Sault Ste. Marie, Hearst, Timmins, Bruce County and Owen Sound were closed Wednesday afternoon.
Winds were estimated to be about 60 kilometres per hour, gusting to 85 kilometres per hour. Falling branches caused some power outages in parts of Toronto.
Virtually all of Ontario -- from Windsor in the southwest, to Moosonee on James Bay and Cornwall in the far east - was covered by wind chill or wind warnings.
The wind warnings extended into southern Quebec and the province's Gaspe Peninsula and parts of New Brunswick were hit by freezing rain.
Meanwhile, much of New Brunswick faced some strong southwesterly winds in the evening. The province had about 1,000 homes without power on Wednesday night.
On Prince Edward Island problems created by freezing temperatures and ice were being compounded by power losses. About 40,000 of the provinces 116,000 residents were without electricity after power lines were knocked down by the weight of ice and falling trees and branches.
Power isn't expected to be fully restored on P.E.I. until Friday, after Tuesday's ice storm brought down lines, affecting 22,000 homes and business. Officials say some residents may be without power into the weekend.
The Red Cross's emergency response team was activated and in one of the worst-affected areas, the village of O'Leary -- 100 kilometres northwest of Charlottetown -- had turned its community centre into an emergency shelter. Officials there said people from outlying areas had been trickling in to cook food and get water.
Three other communities in the western side of the island -- Wellington, Miscouche and Alberton -- also set up shelters to help provide food and warmth. Alberton Mayor Perry Morrell said the community was coming together in difficult circumstances.
"A lot of people who have generators will take in their neighbors," Morrell told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
"When things are difficult, they all chip in together and work hard together to try to make things better for everybody."
Parts of Nova Scotia -- Yarmouth, Cumberland County, the Minas shore, Inverness County in Cape Breton -- were expecting strong winds into the evening.
Parts of the Prairies experienced temperatures in the -30 Celsius range, which felt like -40 when combined with the windchill.
The cold claimed at least two young victims on the Yellow Quill reserve in Saskatchewan. A three-year-old was found frozen to death Tuesday. One day later, her one-year-old sister was also found dead in the cold.
In British Columbia, the Howe Sound area expected up to 15 centimetres of snow. There were also windchill warnings on the North Coast. Residents in Vancouver were coping with some snowfall on Wednesday afternoon. There were reports that buses had problems on steep hills, and ice on SkyTrain tracks slowed the system down. Several universities and schools were cancelled.
Numerous communities in Nunavut were under extreme windchill warnings. Temperatures felt like -60. There were no weather warnings for the Yukon or Northwest Territories, but it was -44 in Yellowknife and -42 in Whitehorse.
