Freezing rain, ice pellets coating Ottawa-Gatineau region

The Ottawa-Gatineau region remainsunder freezing rain warnings Wednesday. Rainfall warnings have also been added tothe mix.

Environment Canada is still warning that if enough precipitation falls on Ottawa-Gatineau and areas to its east and westas freezing rain versus ice pellets, it could potentially cause ice storm conditions with hydro outages and tree damage.

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Ottawa iswarning residents to be prepared by having flashlights and batteries available.

Hydro Ottawa reports about 60,000 customers didn't have power around 9p.m.

About 47,000eastern Ontario Hydro One customers didn't have power, nor did about 100,000Hydro-Qubeccustomers in the Outaouais.

Cancellations, closures

While it isn't directly linking it to the freezing rain, OC Transpo says a light rail power problem has closed the entire Confederation Line. R1 bus service is in place.

Freezing rain led to a multi-day shutdown of the line in January.

Canada Post says it has stopped delivering mail in western Quebec and may not be able to deliver it in eastern Ontario because of the weather.

The City of Ottawa announced its recreational and cultural facilitieswould be closing at 4 p.m., an email from thatdepartment said.

Facilities that host after-school programs will remain open and parents will be contacted to arrange a pickup.

Schools are closed in western Quebec, and while they're generally open in eastern Ontario, school buses are only running in the Kingston and Belleville areas.

Some boards and service centres, such as theWestern Qubec School Board, say staff should work remotely. TheCentre de services scolaire au Cur-des-Vallessays classes are cancelled.

As always, it's best to check with your board, service centre or school about what your specific options are.

Some CEGEPshave suspended classes. Algonquin College cancelled classes at its Pembroke campus in the morning and around 1:45 p.m., cancelled remaining classes in Ottawa and Perth.

The freezing rain timeline

By about 6:45 a.m., freezing rain was falling on rural west Ottawa, moving to central Ottawa around 7:15 a.m. and mixing with ice pellets later in the morning.

A change to rain will happen when temperatures rise high enough. For Ottawa-Gatineau, that could come late in the afternoon.

That change could happen earlier in the afternoon to the south in places such as Brockville,Cornwall andKingston. The freezing rain warning ended in Bellevillearound 12:20 p.m.

Rainfall warnings were issued for all of eastern Ontario except for the Deep River area late Wednesday morning. Thirty to 50 millimetres of rain may fall and that could go even higher if thunderstorms hit.

Western Quebec outside of Gatineau could see freezing rain until around midnight.

Ottawa's temperature is expected to hang around the freezing point all Wednesday before rising overnight to a forecasted high of 10 C Thursday.