Motorists warned of sudden and significant reduced visibility in London area due to blowing snow

It was a pretty wet and windy weekend in the Forest City, but Old Man Winter isn’t done with the weather wallop just yet.

A blowing snow advisory from Environment Canada remains in effect for London and the surrounding areas, while a wind warning ended shortly before 8:30 a.m.

Although the warning is over, it’s still going to be a windy day.

“There will still be fairly strong gusts at 60 or 70 km/h throughout the afternoon before diminishing further in the evening,” said Ryan Rozinski, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

London is also expected to see a bit of snow Monday, but Rozinski said it’s the combination of snow and wind that will make driving hazardous.

“We’re only expecting about two centimetres to fall during the day which ordinarily isn’t too much trouble, but looking at the stronger wind gusts and with it being fairly cold, the snow will blow around fairly easily, leading to very sudden and dramatic reductions in visibility,” he said.

“Certain areas could experience suddenly reduced visibility which may not last very long, but could certainly create difficult travel conditions.”

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Shortly after 6 a.m. on Monday, officials announced that school transportation in Oxford County would be cancelled for the day due to poor visibility.

North of the city, things are much worse. Huron and Perth counties are under a snow squall warning and several roads are closed in Bruce County because of the same poor visibility caused by the combination of wind and snow.

According to Rozinski, the wind will start to die down Monday afternoon and the flurries should end early in the evening.

Overnight, London will see mainly cloudy skies with a low around -12 C, but the Middlesex London Health Unit says the windchill will make it feel closer to -20 C, which has prompted it to issue a cold weather alert.

The alert is expected to remain in place until Tuesday afternoon when the temperature is expected to rise to -7 C, feeling like -14 C with the windchill.

— With files from Jess Brady and Jacquelyn LeBel