WATCH: Christina Stevens reports on how the GTA is readying itself for the first winter storm of the year.
TORONTO – A special weather statement is in effect for southern Ontario, including Toronto and the GTA, as a “significant” winter storm system makes its way into the region this weekend.
A low pressure system making its way north from Texas is expected to reach southern Ontario early Saturday morning. The precipitation will begin as snow, but as temperatures warm, it will change over to rain.
“Initially this system will bring in snow for the GTA and Golden Horseshoe,” said Global News meteorologist Ross Hull. “This will be wet snow and I’m expecting it to be in the 5-7 cm range.”
Hull said that the snow should change to ice pellets and then freezing rain around 7 p.m.
“Areas closer to Lake Ontario…will have less of a risk of a seeing freezing rain during this period because I think temperatures will get above freezing. But areas to watch are Halton-Peel, Waterloo-Wellington, and the higher elevations of the escarpment which will take longer to get above freezing,” Hull said. “Ice amounts look to be in the 2-5 mm range. I don’t think this will be enough of a freezing rain event to see downed trees and power lines but untreated roads/walkways could get very slippery.”
“To put things in perspective the ice storm of 2013 dropped 30 mm of freezing rain in some areas — so not a similar event.”
Environment Canada issued a freezing rain warning for a large swath of southern Ontario Friday afternoon, suggesting it could start Saturday afternoon in Barrie, Orillia, Midland, Dufferin, Innisfil, Grey-Bruce, Halton, Peel and Huron.
Hector Moreno, the manager of road operations at the city of Toronto said Friday the city has already started salting ahead of the storm. City crews laid down some salt Friday morning after a gust of snow swept through the city. Moreno said that salt will “carry us through to tomorrow.”
He said there will be “multiple rounds” of salting to get ready for the storm.
Central and eastern Ontario will likely receive five to 10 cm of snow before the changeover, with the chance of freezing rain as well.
The system will then move into Quebec and Atlantic Canada late Saturday.
The good news is that temperatures are expected to rise across the region Sunday, with highs around 7 C to 10 C. The bad news is that it will be short-lived: the mercury will once again dip to below seasonal for the rest of the week with highs of -7 C to -11 C across the region, as well as strong winds and flurries.
The weather models for this system don’t all agree on the timing and amount of precipitation, making the forecast somewhat difficult. If you’re planning on going out on Saturday, be sure to keep an eye on your local forecast.
To get real-time weather for your area, download the Global News Skytracker weather app.
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