Some Ontario communities nonetheless digging out after a extreme storm final weekend ought to brace for a second spherical as snow squalls coming off the Nice Lakes are anticipated to carry heavy snow to a swath of the province over the approaching days.
Atmosphere Canada has issued a collection of climate alerts for areas alongside the shores of Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, together with some areas battered by the current storm.
Sault Ste. Marie, one of many communities hardest hit by final weekend’s intense squalls, is a part of a stretch that is anticipated to see near 30 centimetres of snow by Wednesday night, which might then set off energy outages, the company mentioned.
Blowing snow off Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay might dump as much as 60 cm on close by communities between Tuesday and Wednesday evenings earlier than shifting additional south, it mentioned.
Communities on the jap shore of the Georgian Bay bore the brunt of final weekend’s storm, and one city within the Muskoka area stays beneath a state of emergency after it was buried beneath greater than a metre of snow.
Ontario Provincial Police prolonged a closure of Freeway 11 on Sunday between Orillia and Huntsville after lots of of drivers had been stranded, however mentioned late Monday the lanes had absolutely reopened.
“There are nonetheless difficult roads in that space and hydro crews, emergency responders are nonetheless discovering areas that should be addressed however fortunately Freeway 11 is open to site visitors and it’s now flowing,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt mentioned in a video posted on-line Monday evening.
Police mentioned Tuesday there have been nonetheless six tractor trailers caught on secondary roads, delaying snow elimination and energy restoration efforts. Additionally they warned that GPS methods could not present correct instructions within the space as a consequence of “unpredictable highway circumstances and closures over the previous few days.”
Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Atmosphere Canada, mentioned Tuesday the incoming heavy snow is the results of an Alberta clipper making its means by means of Ontario and gaining moisture because it travels over the Nice Lakes.
“The system itself shall be out of Ontario most likely late Thursday, however in behind that, it’ll be bringing in additional chilly air, much like what we noticed final weekend throughout Georgian Bay and Lake Huron,” he mentioned.
“In order that chilly air in behind the Alberta clipper goes to trigger extra lake impact snow squalls for those self same or comparable areas already hit final weekend.”
Whereas these communities aren’t utterly out of the woods but, “hopefully that is sufficient time for an honest quantity of restoration earlier than they’re impacted by snow but once more,” he mentioned.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Dec. 3, 2024.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
