Ottawa just had its coldest & snowiest winter storm in over 120 years

Icy Wonderland by Don Douglas, via the OttawaStart Flickr Pool.

The winter storm that, as of Sunday afternoon, is still passing through the region, was the coldest & snowiest Ottawa has seen since before the dawn of the 20th century.

Rolf Campbell, who tweets @YOW_Weather, observed that the storm – with a high reaching minus 18 degrees and two-day snow accumulation in surplus of 25 centimetres – was rivaled only by Feb. 8, 1895, when the max temperature was 17.8 degrees and accumulation exceeded 45 centimetres.

(There was also a snowstorm on Jan. 18, 1934 where it was minus 18.3 degrees, but the accumulation was only 15.2 centimetres.)

Coldest snowstorm in more than 120 years. We already have ~25cm, up to 30cm is possible before the storm ends. The last time this happened in #Ottawa was Feb 8th, 1895 when we received 45.7cm of snow with a high of -17.8°C #OttNews pic.twitter.com/hXJM5OCkf7

— Ottawa Weather Records🌤 (@YOW_Weather) January 20, 2019

It is unusual for major snowfalls to coincide with intense cold, as CBC climatologist Ian Black tweeted.

True. Intense cold/major snowfalls don't usually occur simultaneously, But they can (looks outside). It is rare though. Very cold air has to be in place and a lot of moisture gets thrown right into it. The real question is why is my wife/daughter driving to Pembroke for hockey? https://t.co/7V7lzf3hS8

— Ian Black (@BlacksWeather) January 20, 2019

He added that in 30 years of covering weather, he has never seen an Extreme Cold Warning and a Winter Storm Warning at the same time, as Environment Canada issued the two simultaneously Saturday.

That’s not the only record broken – Jan. 20, 2019 is now the number one snowiest Jan. 20 since records began in 1873, with 21 centimetres of snowfall by 1 p.m.