Oh, Canada: most major cities under winter weather warnings for cold, snow and storms

If you were looking for signs of an early spring, well, look elsewhere.

Most of southern Canada is about to get walloped by a strong hit of winter weather, almost as if to remind us there are still 36 days left in the season and we are to shovel, shiver and suffer through them.

As of Wednesday morning, swaths of every province and territory in the country except for the Northwest Territories were either under a weather warning, watch or statement, according to Environment Canada's weather alert map. That's 857 weather alerts total (but the day is young!).

The warnings were largely concentrated across the southern half of the provinces, painting the bottom half of the map red from just outside Lethbridge, Alta. — which can look forward to extreme cold with windchills down to –40 C — straight east to Fredericton, which can expect up to 25 centimetres of snowfall.

Sections of B.C. were also under warnings, with parts of the North Coast and Whistler due for Arctic outflow (strong winds combined with wind chill) Wednesday and Thursday, and Elk Valley, Yoho Park and Kootenay Park facing extreme cold, with wind chill values near –35 C.

On the other side of the country, Labrador City, N.L., is under an extreme cold warning, with the wind chill dipping as low as –50 C overnight on Wednesday. Meanwhile, up north, Iqaluit has a blizzard warning, and so does Dempster, Yukon.

The entire southern half of Saskatchewan and Manitoba is due for extreme cold, with Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg all facing a "multi-day episode" of wind chills of –40 C or lower.

As for southern Ontario and Quebec? The warnings are a real mixed bag of winter misery, including extreme cold, freezing rain, storms and snowfall, depending on where you live.

"It's going to be a messy drive," the Ontario Provincial Police Highway Safety Division said in a video posted to X Tuesday night.

"Please take care. Stay in control. Slow down if you have to be out there. Avoid non-essential travel."

Heavy snow is expected to hit much of southern Ontario starting Wednesday afternoon, including Toronto, which can expect about 15 centimetres, and Ottawa, which may get clobbered with up to 40 centimetres.

In the GTA, the following areas are currently under snowfall warning: Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Mississauga, Brampton, Uxbridge, Durham Region, Pickering, Oshawa, Newmarket, Georgina, York Region, Oakville, Halton Hills, Milton and Hamilton. 

A winter storm warning is in effect for Barrie, Collingwood and Hillsdale for Wednesday evening into Thursday. Total snowfall amounts could reach up to 30 centimetres, Environment Canada said. At its peak, snowfall rates could exceed five centimetres an hour. 

Several airlines have cancelled flights in anticipation of the storm, Toronto Pearson International Airport said in a post on X on Wednesday morning.