Snow squall warnings stay in impact for elements of southern Ontario as heavy snowfall resulted in a number of crashes and rollovers throughout the area on Thursday.
“It is absolutely crazy,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, who was close to Barrie Thursday morning, informed CP24. “You can barely see the tracks on the highways. Plows have been going through. We have tow trucks and police responding, there’s paramedics responding to calls everywhere we look at.”
The lake impact snow squalls hit the cities and cities surrounding Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay the toughest, with as much as 60 centimetres of snow anticipated.
Barrie, Collingwood, Midland, and Wasaga Seaside appeared poised to get the worst of it, and the heavy snow blowing at gusts of as much as 60 km/h in these areas is producing poor visibility and “treacherous” driving situations, in response to Schmidt.
“You can see, very often, a wall of snow as you’re driving down the highway and then all of sudden, you’re into it,” Schmidt mentioned, noting that not one of the crashes reported Thursday morning have resulted in any fatalities, accidents, or highway closures up to now.
“These streamers, they come through, and they just deposit that snow in a very localized area and that’s just another stark reminder for drivers to pay attention, be aware of changing road conditions,” he mentioned.
Areas east of Toronto, together with Cobourg and Peterborough, have been additionally included within the warning as 25 cm of snow is predicted to fall there over the following day.
West of the town, snow squall watches stay in place for for Kitchener and London, each of which might see as much as 15 cm of snow. Winter climate journey advisories have been additionally issued for Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, and Halton Hills however have been lifted.
Setting Canada is forecasting that the lake impact snow will transfer south Friday morning earlier than returning this weekend over some areas.
Toronto is presently not beneath any climate warning or advisory, however Thursday’s forecast is asking for a 70 per cent likelihood of flurries. The potential for blowing snow within the metropolis will proceed in a single day and into early subsequent week.
At Toronto Pearson Worldwide Airport, crews may very well be seen clearing the runways following a lightweight dusting of snow in Mississauga.
“Snowflakes are falling, but we’re only expecting trace amounts of snow accumulation today. Currently, we aren’t seeing any impact to operations,” the airport mentioned in a tweet.
The excessive in Toronto will attain 1 C on Thursday and a low of – 3 C.
