Cleanup underway after a week of wild weather in the Waterloo region

WATERLOO –

Residents were on high alert Thursday when a low pressure system brought record temperatures and scorching wind gusts across the Waterloo region.

At 1 p.m., the Waterloo Region International Airport recorded a maximum wind gust of 84 kilometers per hour. The strong winds come less than a week after the region suffered 93-kilometer-per-hour gusts in Saturday’s windstorm, causing trees to fall and power outages.

In a tweet posted at 2:30 pm, Hydro One reported that more than 29,400 customers have been affected by power outages in Ontario and anticipate that some residents will be without power through Thursday night.

Meanwhile, crews are responding to complaints of downed trees and debris in many nearby neighborhoods.

“It’s been a very busy week,” Guelph arborist Joe Legate told CTV News. “We’ve gotten numerous calls with downed trees in houses, garages, sheds, trees in front of patios, all kinds of different situations. It’s been crazy.”

Legate is the owner of JL’s Tree Service in Guelph and said he is still catching up on calls from Saturday’s windstorm. Legate added that he and his employees don’t climb trees when conditions are as windy as Thursday. Instead, he conducts site visits and price estimates to make sure he and his team are safe.

“Our work is so dangerous, we are always high that we don’t need to add any unnecessary risks with the weather,” Legate said. “You can’t beat Mother Nature. She’s in charge.”

The region also posted record temperatures Thursday when Kitchener hit 14.4 degrees in the early afternoon.

“It’s been a long time since we had such warm temperatures in mid-December, with about nine days until Christmas, which is very unusual,” Environment Canada meteorologist Peter Kimbell told CTV News. “In fact, very warm temperatures as far north as James Bay.”

Kimbell added that the heat will not last and snow is in the short-term forecast.

“Let’s cross our fingers and hope the snow lasts until Christmas Day, but it could be a bit of a spotty Christmas,” Kimbell said.

Environment Canada anticipates a 40 percent chance of gusts as early as Saturday night.