A wintry Wednesday: Cold in B.C., heavy rain in the Maritimes, darkness in Quebec

British Columbia: In the snow

Vancouver gave away bucketloads of free road salt on Wednesday as an unusually cold and snowy winter torments the traditionally temperate West Coast, turning some streets and sidewalks into impromptu skating rinks.

Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver's general manager for engineering services, said 10 fire halls would have de-icing salt available starting for locals who can't find any at local stores. As the day went on, supplies ran low and city officials had to keep a tight limit on how much salt residents could take.

So far this winter, the city – which was hit with its first significant snowfall in more than two years – has gone through about 7,000 tonnes of salt, which is seven times the average amount used in each of the previous two winters. Environment Canada forecasted that the low temperatures would not lift until mid-January. Here's Frances Bula's report for The Globe on how the city is redeploying its staff to deal with the winter conditions.

The Prairies: In the cold

Manitobans were bracing for a cold day Wednesday, a day after a snowstorm temporarily shut the main highway between Winnipeg and the U.S. border.

Environment Canada warned of extreme wind chill – sometimes below -40 – in parts of southern Manitoba on Wednesday morning.

Highway 75 and several others were shut down earlier Tuesday due to the latest snowstorm in the area. Strong northerly winds were reducing visibility to 500 metres in open areas.

Meanwhile, an extreme cold warning for parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta was lifted Tuesday.

Eastern Canada: In the rain

Large swaths of New Brunswick were under weather alerts Wednesday for freezing rain and snow as a low-pressure system near Cape Cod moved across the province.

The pressure system was also set to batter Prince Edward Island and parts of Nova Scotia with heavy winds, with about 20 mm of rain and patches of fog expected in the Halifax area.

Quebec: In the dark

More than 57,000 Hydro-Québec customers were without electricity by midday Wednesday due to freezing rain. Hydro-Québec says most outages are due to ice-covered branches snapping and falling onto power lines.

The regions most affected are the Laurentians north of Montreal, communities south of the city and in western Quebec. The freezing rain was expected to gradually change to snow overnight, with two to four centimetres expected. However, some areas of eastern Quebec could get up to 25 centimetres of snow, accompanied by strong winds.

Hydro One was also reporting several hundred homes and businesses without electricity early Wednesday in communities scattered across Eastern Ontario. Some power outages were reported in Ottawa.

Toronto: In the clear (for now)

Eastern Ontario's icy weather didn't extend as far as Toronto, which has had mild and cloudy weather for the past few days. But temperatures are expected to drop sharply heading into the weekend.

With a report from Globe staff

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