Cold weather is gripping Petrolia and Central Lambton today.

The temperature this morning sits in -23 Celsius range, a record. Environment Canada says with the wind chill, it feels like – 34. Unofficial, the temperature was as low as -27 C at one point.

The extreme winter weather and blowing snow on the roads lead the Lambton-Kent District School Board, the St. Clair District Catholic School Board and virtually every organization for youth to close for the day.

Lambton County public works crews are still out on the roads attempting to keep the roads passable. Jim Kutyba, general manager of infrastructure for Lambton, says most of the roads are snow-covered with some drifting but crews are working to keep them as clear as possible.

He adds there is no salting underway now, since it will not work in temperatures below -12 C. Crews are sanding icy patches.

In Chatham-Kent, officials pulled snow removal equipment off the road due to the weather.

In Petrolia, Joe Adams, director of operations, says workers are working on sidewalks and trying to remove the snow clogging the downtown instead of trying remove more snow from the roadways.

“There is no use trying to scrape some of the secondary snow off the roads; it’s frozen now,” Adams tells The Independent. “Until the weather changes, that’s how it will be.

“With the sidewalks, we’re having a tough time…we’re not going to get down to a bare sidewalk…but at least were making it so it is passable…so the older folks can get out and get a few groceries if they have to.”

While some municipalities are dealing with water main breaks, Adams says so far, there have not been any problems in their municipality. “Usually, that doesn’t show up until it starts to thaw – that’s when the shifting occurs.”

The deep freeze is expected to continue today and tonight, with temperatures in the -20 C range but by Wednesday, temperatures will begin to climb until the weekend when the thermometer will climb to the +3 C range