For the second time in less than a year, a massive snowstorm shuttered Toronto’s schools the day before many were set to close anyway for a training day, prompting thousands of children and families to head to the city’s parks.
On Thursday morning, parents and children found out that class was cancelled across Toronto because of the treacherous travel conditions left behind by a major snowstorm, the same pattern of events as in February 2025.
Friday is a professional development day at both Toronto public and Toronto Catholic school boards, meaning most of the city’s school-age children were handed a four-day, snow-covered long-weekend.
Many headed to Toronto’s 1,500 parks to build snow statues and sled down hills in the freezing cold on Thursday.
“You don’t have to go to school, and you can build snowmen,” Ayoa Kellerman told Global News between activities at one park. “When I woke up, my mom told me, I ran outside and jumped in the snow.”
Her younger sister, Delphine, said she was so excited when she found out school had been cancelled and that she could play in the snow, she screamed loud enough her mother had to tell her off.
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The massive snowstorm that cancelled school prompted an orange weather warning from Environment Canada for Toronto, predicting as much as 35 cm of snow.
Temperatures also dropped significantly overnight, reaching minus double digits. Toronto woke up to -22 C with the wind chill on Thursday morning and, although it warmed through the day, it never headed above freezing.
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Roads across the GTA were paralyzed from the storm as major routes such as highways, expressways and interior roads were covered in a significant amount of snow and with black ice, causing slippery conditions.
Jeniffer Chau, who went outside to play in the snow with her daughter Edie on Thursday, said being able to work from home had freed her up — and left her looking after several of her neighbours’ kids.
“For me, it’s fine because I work from home, but I know a lot of other people here have kind of dumped the kids onto us who are flexible,” she told Global News.
Edie said she was thrilled when she found out school was cancelled, but wasn’t sure if she was being tricked.
“I slept through past my alarm anyway, so I was really, really excited,” she said. “I did not believe my mum for the first time because she was namiung off things that are closed today and I was just waiting for school to pop up.”
A sprinkling of snow and temperatures below and around freezing are predicted for Friday and the rest of the four-day weekend.
— With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues and Caryn Lieberman
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