Environment Canada has issued a special weather advisory for Toronto as significant snowfall begins to hit the city on Monday and the City says plowing will begin Monday evening.
The agency said the winter weather travel advisory is in effect for all day Monday and into the evening hours. Light snow started off the morning, and is expected to become heavy at times in the afternoon and will continue in the evening, the weather agency said.
Environment Canada is forecasting snowfall accumulations of 10 to 15 centimetres in Toronto by the time the snow ends late tonight.
Global News meteorologist Ross Hull said heading west of Toronto areas like Oakville and Burlington could see closer to 15 to 25 centimetres of snow.
The heaviest amounts are expected along the Niagara escarpment, between Hamilton towards St. Catharines, where up to 30 centimetres of snow is possible, Hull said.
“Travel conditions on the roads will deteriorate throughout the day and the snow combined with dropping temperatures will make for a slippery evening commute across the GTA,” Hull said.
The City of Toronto said in an update Monday evening that plowing on main roads would occur between 9 p.m. on Monday and 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
Temperatures will be steady near -2 C with wind chills near -11 C for Toronto. Winds will be northeast at 20 km/h gusting to 40 km/h, Environment Canada said.
“This is quite an impressive snow and cold outbreak for the area — certainly more typical of what we see in January rather than November. The average snowfall for the entire month of November is 7.5 centimetres in Toronto,” Hull said.
“After the snow, near record cold will settle into the area for both Tuesday and Wednesday so the freshly fallen snow will not be melting quickly. Also, with that, Arctic air moving over Georgian Bay and Lake Huron expect snow squalls to develop in the snowbelts.”
GO Transit and the TTC reported weather-related delays and cancellations on certain routes.
— With files from Nick Westoll