London-area residents are being advised to cover up their plants as temperatures get set to dip just below the freezing mark overnight Friday, prompting widespread frost advisories.
The overnight low is expected to fall to around -1 C around 5 a.m., according to the latest Environment Canada forecast. Factoring in the wind chill, it will feel more like -5 C. The average low for this time of the year is around 3.8 C.
Frost advisories are in effect across a wide swath of southern Ontario, in particular along the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
The first frost advisory for the spring season for most of these areas! #ONStorm https://t.co/rVfzNQZipV pic.twitter.com/1KX4jBqnTa
— ECCC Weather Ontario (@ECCCWeatherON) April 30, 2021
The frost advisories come in addition to a special special weather statement which has been in place throughout the day across much of southern Ontario as a result of strong winds.
Issued around 3:30 p.m. Friday, the most recent special weather statement said that strong northwesterly winds were expected to continue for several more hours, with gusts of 70 to 80 km/h expected.
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The windy conditions resulted in downed tree limbs and some minor, scattered power outages over the course of the afternoon Friday.
A fallen tree knocked down a hydro line along Quebec Street between Princess Avenue and Elias Street around 2:30 p.m., resulting in Quebec Street being closed to traffic for a period of time.
980 CFPL LEXUS OF LONDON TRAFFIC UPDATE:
Quebec St. is closed between Princess Ave. and Elias St. after a tree fell, bringing down a hydro wire. Drivers are asked to avoid the area. #ldnont pic.twitter.com/pGI6ZB2iA8— 980 London Traffic (@London_Traffic) April 30, 2021
Meanwhile, in south London, a twitter user posted that the gusty winds had toppled the sign belonging to the Days Inn and Knotty Pine Restaurant on Wellington Road, located across from White Oaks Mall.
The toppled Days Inn/Knotty Pine sign on April 30, 2021.
Courtesy @CybertronBeast via Twitter
Elsewhere, Middlesex OPP tweeted that a downed tree took out hydro wires along Vanneck Road between Hedley Drive and Thirteen Mile in Middlesex Centre, knocking out power to area residents.
The outage did not appear on Hydro One’s outage map around 5 p.m.
The gusts are expected to die down into Friday night, but windy conditions are also expected Saturday.
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Forecasters with the national weather agency say London will see sun early Saturday turning cloudy near noon with a 40 per cent chance of late afternoon showers and a high of 13 C.
Wind gusts of up to 60 km/h are expected Saturday morning as well as Saturday evening, according to Environment Canada.
Saturday night will see partly cloudy conditions and a 40 per cent chance of showers. There will be a risk of thunderstorm overnight into Sunday and a low of 12 C.
#MiddlesexOPP have closed Vanneck Rd between Hedley Dr and Thirteen Mile @MiddlesexCentre for downed tree and hydro wires. Hydro is out in the area. @HydroOne advising it will be at least a few hours until power is restored. Please avoid the area ^jh pic.twitter.com/PVrHCDlq7E
— OPP West Region (@OPP_WR) April 30, 2021
