Snow-covered Ontario is set to see another dusting on Tuesday as city crews in Toronto and beyond struggle to deal with massive back-to-back storms.
Environment Canada has issued a snow squall warning for parts of southern Ontario on the edge of Lake Huron, with lesser weather advisories in place for Barrie, York Region, Toronto and areas to the west.
In areas with snow squall warnings, like Owen Sound, the weather agency is predicting as much as 70 centimetres of snow and whiteout conditions.
“The heaviest snow squall band will continue today through tonight,” the warning, posted at 5 a.m., reads. “Snow squalls are expected to taper to light flurries Wednesday morning.”
Farther south, areas from Kitchener to Vaughan, Toronto and Barrie are set for less snow. Toronto is expecting to see another five centimetres fall, while the surrounding area could see 10 centimetres more.
“A band of lake effect snow has moved into the area,” the Toronto weather advisory said. “In addition, gusty winds may produce local blowing snow, reducing visibility. Snow will end and winds will diminish this evening.”
Global News meteorologist Anthony Farnell said the fresh snowfall won’t have a major impact on what’s already fallen.
Get daily National news
“This will bring the salt trucks back out but it won’t be enough to plow or have major impacts on the longer-term plans the city has to remove the snow that has already fallen,” he said. “Winds will also gust over 40km/h today but become much lighter on Wednesday.”
Toronto continues to work on clearing efforts after days of struggling under the weight of two large storms.
Over the weekend, 25 centimetres of snow fell across the city, landing on top of 20 centimetres that fell midweek. The Saturday before, 10 centimetres of snow was also estimated to have fallen.
The City of Toronto declared a snowstorm condition last Wednesday, which remained in place for days as crews tried to clear major roads and transit. Many sidewalks and smaller roads remain snow-covered and treacherous on Tuesday.
The major snow removal process — which involves dump trucks collecting to take it off streets — begins once ploughing is complete. The city has estimated the removal will take weeks, particularly as cold conditions stop the snow from melting.
Farnell said cold temperatures will persist until the end of the workweek.
“The frigid weather will remain in place until Friday and temperatures will actually climb slightly above freezing by the end of the weekend,” he said. “This is welcome news but not nearly warm enough to melt all the snow that has fallen in the past week.”
— with files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues
Comments