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A critical freezing rainstorm could paralyze much of western Quebec Wednesday into Thursday under the worst-case scenario, according to orange-level weather alerts for the Ottawa-Gatineau area.<\/p>\n
Environment Canada is forecasting two to three centimetres of freezing rain starting around 6 a.m. Wednesday for an area from Gatineau north to Maniwaki and east to the Montreal area.<\/p>\n
Prolonged outages and significant property damage is expected, according to Environment Canada. It recommends avoiding non-essential travel.<\/p>\n
The City of Gatineau said freezing rain is expected to be at its worst between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The rest of western Quebec and northern eastern Ontario could get one or two centimetres of freezing rain under their warnings. That amount of freezing rain falling does not necessarily mean that’s how much ice will build up, according to Environment Canada \u2014 it could be more like a centimetre or two.<\/p>\n
Those parts of the Outaouais, including communities such as Shawville and Fort-Coulonge, will likely see power outages. People there should think about doing non-essential travel on a different day.<\/p>\n
Eastern Ontario’s warning, which covers communities north of Highway 7 and of the St. Lawrence River further east, says more of a mix of rain and freezing rain could end up falling, especially for areas further south.<\/p>\n
People there will likely see outages and property damage, Environment Canada said. People should be careful if they choose to travel.<\/p>\n
Communities south of that warning, including Belleville, Brockville, Cornwall and Kingston, should get 20 to 40 millimetres of rain. Areas north and east of Kingston could see precipitation change back and forth between rain and freezing rain.<\/p>\n
WATCH | The possible timing of the storm:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773163389_984_default.jpg\")
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Environment Canada details how Wednesday\u2019s freezing rainstorm might unfold over the day<\/p>\n
Eric Tomlinson, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, goes over what\u2019s expected Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening in the Ottawa valley as freezing rain is expected in the region.<\/p>\n
The storm could be similar to the April 2023 ice storm that hit the area, according to Eric Tomlinson, an Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of local customers lost power in that storm, which Hydro Ottawa described as the worst ice storm in the area since 1998.<\/p>\n
Temperatures are expected to be around the freezing mark in Ottawa-Gatineau from Tuesday night until Thursday.<\/p>\n
Orange warnings are in the middle of Environment Canada’s three-colour scale. They signal uncommonly severe weather likely to cause significant disruption.<\/p>\n
Tomlinson said the 1998 ice storm would be an example of a red-level event.<\/p>\n
Ways to prepare<\/p>\n
The City of Ottawa recommends preparing for extreme weather by having emergency supplies<\/a>, such as non-perishable food and batteries, to cover three days.<\/p>\n