The next couple of days are forecast to be very cold in Ottawa, likely the coldest nights of the year. Here’s the forecast from the Meteorological Service of Canada.
Another source is predicting -32°C.
Based on the long-term average, Ottawa is past the 21st and 22nd of January, which are the coldest days of the year.
The record minimum temperatures for each day of January are below -30 °C. It may seem particularly cold this year as the past couple of winters have been warmer than average. In 2025, the coldest temperatures ranged from -25°C to -27°C in late January and early February. In 2024, Ottawa experienced an unusually mild winter, with temperatures rarely dipping below -20°C. The last time the temperature dropped to -30°C or below was 4 February 2023, when a low of -33.1°C was officially recorded at the airport.
The latest extended forecast also shows a gentle warming, perhaps better expressed as a less-cold trend into February.