This scene taken from February 15, 2025 shows how last season the winter was more severe than any since the 1970s in the region of London, Ontario. This year extremely low temperatures have settled in the past week making winter even more extreme than last year. These extremes have an effect on modes of transportation and what kind of vehicles, and persons, can operate in these extremes.
Environment Canada has posted the weather conditions for London, Ontario for the dates of January 29 and 30, 2026 as noted below.
While temperatures between -15 and -21 Celsius are not uncommon in many parts of Canada in winter they are unusual for the most southern areas such as London, Ontario. Wind chills reaching -30 Celsius are rarely seen in London. This weather has been steady over the region for the past week and is likely continue for the next few days.
The effects of weather conditions like these are compounded by news that municipalities in Ontario are running out of road salt. This creates an additional safety problem. Yet the largest salt mine in the world is located just an hour and a half drive north of London at Goderich, Ontario, News media are reporting that long lines of dump trucks are waiting for hours near the Goderich mine to load up on salt.
Without road salt many streets in London are looking like they did many decades ago when road salt was not rigorously applied, as shown in the example below, taken on a local street in London on January 28, 2026.
This is a typical example of snow existing on many local streets in London, Ontario as road salt is not present to melt the snow. Snow plows are also having difficulty reaching all the local streets.
While grand plans have been discussed by many politicians that they are working on increasing the active transportation modes of cycling and walking, the reality in these past two winters in that walking and cycling are extremely difficult when such snow and low temperatures exist.
Bright green painted “cyclist only” zones are very visible when snow does not cover them. However it is difficult to see them in this view. Fortunately very few cyclists ride in these weather conditions.Sometimes even snow plows get stuck in snow. Here a sidewalk plow is being rescued by a tow truck on Upper Queen near Chiddington on January 27, 2026. Stopped in a live traffic lane the tow truck causes other vehicles to veer into the opposing lane.Inevitably some drivers loose control of their vehicles and end up in a snow-covered median as was the case here on Highbury Ave. Highbury is particularly hazardous because its old construction contains a lane edge that is too close the shoulder. More modern design creates an extra width of pavement between the white edge line and the gravel. In older times many fatal collisions occurred on major expressways because of this poor design.Homeless persons find it very difficult to survive in these extreme conditions. They often seek shelter in certain cubby-holes of a downtown such as here on Horton Street west of Wellington Street.Despite these extreme conditions a few hardy cyclists still venture out. In this example of a rider on Hamilton Road on January 27, 2026, some flattened snow on the sidewalk enables the cyclist to ride, while in most scenarios many riders have to dismount and walk their bike because of the snow.
Overall extreme winter conditions have an affect on road safety. Because of poor traction many drivers are involved in loss-of-control collisions or rear-end impacts. Many of these incidents are minor in severity but some are not. The City of Toronto has seen a rise in the number of pedestrians being injured and killed and these incidents are also likely affected by the weather. Movement in all these extremes is difficult and it relies on everyone to pay particular attention to what they are doing.
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