Massive storm hammers Ontario

A nasty weather system blew into southern Ontario on Wednesday morning, bringing the province its first official blizzard warning in 18 years befor it heads east toward parts of Nova Scotia that are already digging out from a fresh dump of snow.

The system, which originated in the U.S. and clobbered much of northern Indiana, northern Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma, was expected to dump as much as 40 centimetres of snow on parts of southern Ontario by Wednesday evening.

Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said severe-weather warnings are in place "in much of southern Ontario, including a stretch from the Niagara region to Hamilton to London and Sarnia." By Wednesday morning, the storm was blanketing the Greater Toronto Area and heading eastward to Ottawa. The area around London in the province’s southwest corridor remained under a blizzard warning.

"The last time a blizzard warning was issued in southern Ontario was in 1993, but that’s a bit misleading because the blizzard-warning criteria was changed this past year," said Kimbell, who noted the warning used to contain a wind chill component, which has since been removed. "We lowered the bar to get a blizzard warning, which is why we’re getting one now. If we hadn’t lowered the bar, we probably wouldn’t have one.

Environment Canada defines a blizzard as at least four hours of visibility not exceeding 400 metres and winds of at least 40 kilometres per hour. To justify a snowfall or snow storm warning, 15 cm of expected snowfall is needed in the forecast over a 12-hour period.

Although only the London area is under a blizzard warning, Kimbell said whiteout conditions are likely in many of the other regions under the storm warnings.

"We’re not trying to say it will be a piece of cake anywhere – it’s not – but in that area (around London) it will be particularly severe," he said.

The "major winter storm" forecast by Environment Canada in all other areas of southern Ontario should consist of up to 30 centimetres of snow, along with winds nearing 50 km/h that could create frequent whiteout conditions.

The system hit Windsor Tuesday evening before reaching Toronto around midnight. York University and Humber College, two of the larger post-secondary education institutions in the GTA, sent out statements early Wednesday cancelling classes for the day. Damp, blowing snow hit Ottawa before sunrise on Wednesday, with snowfall anticipated to stop late in the afternoon, Kimbell said.

Toronto’s Pearson International Airport reported that the storm cancelled more than 300 flights between Tuesday and Wednesday, while Ottawa International Airport cancelled more than 50 flights to and from the national capital.

In Nova Scotia, which spent Tuesday digging out from roughly 15 cm of new snow, the same system that will wreak havoc in Ontario could pound that Maritime province with an additional 45 cm by Thursday.

"Nova Scotia has one system exiting and another one coming, and the other Maritime provinces have a warning for the new system (Wednesday)," Kimbell said. "So grand total, over a couple of days, Nova Scotia is looking at between 35 to 60 cm of snow. All (the Maritimes) will experience this wintry weather, but to differing degrees. The worst hit will be Nova Scotia."

Nova Scotia RCMP issued a safety advisory to motorists on Tuesday "as a significant winter storm impacts the province over the next 24 to 36 hours."

In Windsor, Ont., city officials declared a "snow emergency" Tuesday evening. Because of the pending storm, drivers there were allowed to park in arena and community centre parking lots and other municipal lots to allow snow crews to clear city streets.

Windsor is preparing to tackle what Mayor Eddie Francis only half jokingly referred to this week as the "storm of the century."

"All of our crews are ready," Francis said. "Every piece of equipment has been recruited by our operations department and are ready to be put on the street.

"We have been tested before in this region. We’re not going to be caught off guard."

Ontario Provincial Police are urging motorists to use extreme caution behind the wheel, or to just stay home.

"If you really don’t need to travel, then don’t take the chance," said OPP Const. Janet Hayes. "If it’s not somewhere that you really need to go, just don’t take the chance of heading out. The best place you can be is at home."

With files from Windsor Star