Winter weather hits London, Ont. area on first full day of spring

It’s the first full day of spring but it certainly doesn’t feel like it in the London, Ont., region with a high of just 1 C expected and a snow squall warning in place

Environment Canada issued a watch Wednesday morning, warning of the potential for “a brief frontal snow squall this afternoon” as well as lake effect snow squalls in the evening and overnight into Thursday afternoon. The watch was upgraded to a warning just before noon.

The national weather agency says 15 to 35 cm of snow is possible with peak snowfall rates of 3 to 5 cm per hour. Winds could gust to 70 km/h as well, which would make for sudden drops in visibility.

“London, in particular, is kind of on the southern edge of what the snow squall area is going to be,” explained Steven Flisfeder, warning preparedness meteorologist  with Environment Canada.

“Snowfall accumulation is not looking to be the highest. They’re going to be more on the lower end of the range listed in the warnings, so closer to the 15 cm range.”

The local forecast is calling for a risk of snow squalls in the evening with the potential for 10 to 15 cm of snow and then another 2 cm of snow Thursday morning.