WATCH ABOVE: Global’s chief meteorologist Anthony Farnell has the latest on the storm hitting the GTA
TORONTO – The persistent snow falling on Toronto made for a messy commute during the evening rush hour Tuesday.
Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for the city Tuesday morning warning of a mix of snow and rain.
In Toronto, snow started to fall before noon and the last major band of snow hit the Greater Toronto Area shortly after 4 p.m., Global News Chief Meteorologist Anthony Farnell said.
“We’re seeing a transition over to ice pellets currently and that is affecting, definitely, the afternoon commute,” Farnell said.
Farnell said freezing drizzle and ice pellets had been reported near St. Catharines and Hamilton.
“We have about 200 salt trucks ready to go and once the snow arrives, we’ll activate them,” said Trevor Tenn of Toronto Transportation Services.
“It takes about two to three hours to do one round of salting on the arterial roads. We anticipate doing several rounds prior to the rush hour this afternoon.”
The city of Toronto began salting roads at approximately 12 p.m. Tuesday and began their third round on expressways and arterial rounds shortly after 4 p.m.
Freezing rain is expected to miss the city of Toronto. Environment Canada has instituted a freezing rain warning for much of southwestern Ontario, east to Hamilton and the Niagara Region.
The weather system could cause delays for people trying to get in and out of Pearson International Airport Tuesday. The airport took to twitter advising people to check the status of their flight. More than 190 flights in and out of Pearson airport had been cancelled as of 4:30 p.m.
Sheridan College announced shortly before 5 p.m. it had cancelled evening classes at its Trafalgar campus.
Toronto Police said Yorkdale Mall would be closing early due to a power outage.
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