Canada’s weather agency is suggesting Hamilton and area will likely see heavy snow as early as Thursday afternoon.
Environment Canada‘s regional warning says the snowfall, potentially 25 cm of total accumulation, will be large enough to make travel difficult in some locations.
“Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times … surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow,” the agency said in its release Wednesday afternoon.
Global News chief meteorologist Anthony Farnell says the issue is a system similar to one that crossed the GTHA two weeks ago tracking northeast across Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
“Unlike what we had a couple of weeks ago, the second system, I think, is really going to pack a punch this time,” Farnell said.
“We’re going to see perhaps a brief period of freezing rain and ice pellets. But this is going to quickly transition to a heavy wet snow.”
Thursday’s high is expected to be -2 C and a low of -11 with a windchill into Friday morning.
A mix of sun and cloud with a high of -6 C is expected for Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Niagara Region is expected to see similar weather with freezing rain, ice pellets and snowfall of up to 10 cm on Thursday night.
The most eastern areas, like Niagara Falls, are expected to see less snow and more rain.
In light of the warnings, Conservation Authorities in the Long Point Region and Grand River issued a flood watches on Wednesday for all areas along the Lake Erie and Grand River shorelines.
Both alerting residents of ponding around frozen ditches, culverts and catch basins depending on the amount of rain and snow received.
Flows into local waterways may result in minor flooding in low-lying areas.