Thursday morning brought Waterloo Region the coldest temperatures measured locally on a Dec. 28 in a century.
Environment Canada says a temperature of -24.2 C was recorded at the Region of Waterloo International Airport around midnight Thursday.
That figure is more than three degrees colder than the previous record-holder, which came on Dec. 28, 1917 when a figure of -20.6 C was recorded.
Environment Canada’s records for the area date back to 1914.
Temperatures did warm up as Thursday morning went on, breaking past -20 C before 2 a.m. and hitting a relatively balmy -14.7 C by 10 a.m. Around the same time, an extreme cold warning that had been in place since Wednesday was ended.
Environment Canada was forecasting temperatures to top out for the day at -13 C, before falling down to -17 C overnight.
Friday’s forecast high was said to be -11 C, followed by -9 C and -13 C for the final two days of 2017, and overnight lows between -14 C and -17 C.
Flurries were expected to start falling Thursday night and continue through Friday afternoon, with up to 4 cm of accumulation possible. Forecasters warned that flurries could continue off and on through the weekend, although further significant accumulation was not expected as of Thursday morning.
Normal temperatures for the final days of the year in Waterloo Region are highs of -3 C and lows of -10 C.
