TORONTO — Commuters are facing major headaches as a winter storm that began hours before the morning rush hour drops up to 10 cm of snow on the Greater Toronto Area, causing more than 200 crashes and snarling traffic.
A special weather statement from Environment Canada warns a low pressure system that came in overnight Tuesday from Lake Huron is dumping 5 to 10 cm of snow in Southern Ontario throughout the day.
The weather service says winds up to 70 km/hr winds are whipping up snow and reducing visibility on the roads as the system makes its way to Quebec by Tuesday night.
The weather statement is in effect for areas stretching from London to Toronto, while a warning of a brief bout of heavy snow and even possible thunder and lightning was in place for the Niagara region.
Meanwhile, the snow belt is due for up to 25 cm of heavy-falling snow by Wednesday morning. Whiteout conditions were also forecast from the Belleville to Kingston areas for Tuesday afternoon.
VIDEO: GTA expecting up to 10 cm of snow
By lunchtime the tally of crashes on Toronto-area roads reached more than 200.
Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the more-than 100 collisions on Toronto-area highways by late morning resulted in many minor injuries but no fatalities. Toronto police reported around 70 crashes, while York region police saw around 50.
Weather maintenance crews in Toronto have deployed more than 1,000 pieces of snow-fighting equipment to clear roads and sidewalks during the storm. “Give them room. Stay back,” they cautioned on Twitter.
Comments