A severe winter storm brought heavy snowfall to southern Ontario, with reports of high winds, thunder and lightning.
Environmental Canada meteorologist Hygen Sun said 22 to 30 centimeters of snow had fallen in the Toronto metropolitan area as of 6 a.m. today, prompting the city of Toronto to declare a “major snowstorm condition.” Residents are no longer allowed to park on designated routes for the next three days. day to day.
Ottawa recorded 14 centimeters of snow and Hamilton recorded 15 centimeters.
Environment Canada lifted snow and winter storm warnings for some hard-hit areas early Saturday morning.
Dozens of flights to and from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport were delayed or canceled late Friday night and early Saturday morning, prompting airlines to check flight status before departing for airports in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. urged the customer
Greater Toronto Airport Authority spokesperson Tori Grass said conditions at Pearson Airport had improved, but the airport received a large amount of snow in a short period of time.
“The snow was also very heavy, and strong winds made clearing it difficult overnight, but the pace of plane movement is picking up,” said Glass, adding that positive feedback from some of the country’s airlines I explained that the cancellation “helped”.
Glass said further flight delays and cancellations are possible.
“As road conditions affect workers’ ability to get to Toronto Pearson, we are also seeing an impact on staffing for airport authorities, airlines and other partners,” Glass said. “Passengers may experience delays and longer-than-usual queues, but we expect the situation to continue to improve throughout the day.”
Toronto’s declaration of a blizzard condition is intended to help clear the city’s roads after a significant amount of snowfall accumulates in a relatively short period of time.
The city issued a statement on Saturday, saying it made the declaration in anticipation of snow removal operations starting Monday.
“This declaration may be canceled or extended within 72 hours, depending on the amount of snow removal required,” the statement said. “At the moment, the city expects it to likely be extended.”
According to the city, most of the designated snow routes are in the downtown core and include all streetcar routes.
Sun said the wet storm originated in Texas and developed very quickly.
“Storm . . . (is) retreating rapidly,” Sun said in an interview.
Snowfall and winter storm warnings remain in effect for some parts of the state, including Ottawa, Kingston, and other parts of eastern Ontario.
Environment Canada urges people to exercise caution when out and about as highways, roads, sidewalks and parking lots can be difficult to navigate.
Mud and snow-covered roads create dangerous conditions, and snowstorms can reduce visibility without warning and can make driving difficult.
Both Toronto Hydro and Hydro One reported only sporadic outages.