TORONTO, Ont. – Snowfall in parts of Ontario has prompted flight cancellations and caused headaches for motorists Thursday.
Nearly 10 centimetres of snow fell in Toronto by early Thursday — the largest snowfall recorded for the city since March 2011, according to CityNews weather specialist Sangita Patel. According to Environment Canada, downtown Toronto received 15 centimetres of snow.
Peter Noehammer, the city’s director of transportation services, said there are 600 road plows and 300 sidewalk tractors in use.
Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning for southern and eastern Ontario late Wednesday.
Over 70 flights have been cancelled or delayed as of Thursday morning at Pearson International Airport. Ten centimetres of snow had fallen there, Environment Canada said.
Travellers are urged to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
The Canadian Automobile Association reported a 45-60 minute wait for service. The association fielded 1,900 calls as of Thursday morning.
“We do service high-priority calls first so those are the drivers who are stranded out on the road, involved in a collision,” said CAA spokeswoman Silvana Aceto.
The CAA advises motorists to drive with extra caution by slowing down and giving themselves extra room between vehicles.
“Make sure to slow down, I can’t stress that enough.”
“Slow down, drive according to those road conditions.”
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10-15cm? What are you smoking
I was not satisfied with how we handled the snow storm. The city was not prepared at all! I was on the highway at 0630hrs and there were no snow plows on the highway. Cars cleared the way for other cars. I saw four snow plows at 401 and morningside ramp parked. I was fuming!
Get Mel !!!! Call in the army !!!!
Seems that the City was trying to avoid sending plows out to save money (in hopes of another Budget Surplus at year end), then realized too late that they needed to send out the plows. Or were the unionized workers at home sleeping instead?
Either way, the roads were not cleared at all this morning on my drive to work. Lazy city workers and lazy city.
Of course it was a treacherous drive to work. As usual, it was snowing all night long, and the snowplows didn’t get out until the morning rush hour started. Then they complain about having to go slowly with all that traffic. Where were the plows all night long when there was nobody on the roads to plow the roads, scrape them bare, and put the salt down to melt a thin layer of snow. No, this is backwards Toronto. Wait until there is a foot of snow on the roads, then start plowing.
Was anyone else hoping for a snow day? One of the upsides was a lovely, empty parking lot at the Brampton GO Station this morning. I kind of wish the snow had fallen on Christmas Eve instead, but a white New Year’s is better than nothing!
I guess we will hear all the usual excuses about why they can’t plow side streets because of parked cars. Here’s an idea Toronto. Montreal has had a system in place for years. From 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. (daytime hours) there is no parking on one side of the street, and parking lots all over the city where people can park during snow removal, and the snow blowers clean the street. Then, from 7:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. (overnight hours), there is no parking on the other side of the street for the snowblowers to clean the road. Oh wait, did I mention snowblowers? Oops. Sorry, that’s Montreal. This is Toronto. Sorry, my bad.
I heard a lot of people were struggling through the snow on roads. Oh ya, I forgot, they couldn’t walk on the sidewalks because they weren’t plowed either. Way to go Toronto. Typical useless snow clearing, as usual.
680 NEWS, I like the picture on your story. It sums up Toronto really well. It has been snowing all night, and roads are still snow covered and not plowed everywhere. I guess we will be hearing the usual excuse about being caught by surprise. I guess they don’t have windows on the snow plow buildings to see the snow falling outside.
Yes, Toronto is a city of whiners. Good lord, 10 cms. of snow. Horrors. It’s too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. No wonder this is Canada’s most hated city.
This Canada. It snows. Learn to deal with it. If you are going to depend on someone else you will be disappointed everytime.
I hear Florida is nice.
What a bunch of whiners.
It started snowing in Toronto about 7:00 Wednesday evening. At 7:00 the next morning, 12 hours later, all the t.v. news shows and traffic cameras were showing show covered roads everywhere. Way to go Toronto. Once again, you have won the prestigious title of “World’s Most Useless City” when it comes to snow removal.
What a bunch of whining little baby’s.
This is CANADA you baby whiners, so suck it up.
If you don’t like the weather here, there is a plane at the airport that can take you out of here.
Where’s the plow’s, where’s the salter’s, I pay my taxes wa wa wa.
Get off your lazy whining butt’s and get a shovel and go clean off your sidewalk.
Its more than what was expected in GTA.
Let it snow, Let it snow… finally.
wow a whole 5-10 cms call the army.
Okay, there is now officially snow on the roads, so where are the salters? Come on Toronto, why am I paying taxes if you can’t put the salters out.
Oh no! Another 680News ‘Snowmageddon’ around the clock, nerve-racking round-the-clock news event… PANIC TIME! Ohhh no! I thought this wasn’t Canada…. ohh no!
@dennis
My thoughts exactly.
5-10 cm of snow… holy moly…call in the army!!!
Enjoy your ride to work. It will start snowing tonight. By the time you head to work in the morning, it will have been snowing for about 8 hours, and the roads will still not be plowed. This is Toronto remember.
Soooo glad I’m going back to work Thursday!
Sooo glad I’m not going back to work until after New Year’s Day!
We need to panic because most Torontonians come from other countries and have never seen snow. Prepare for a demolition derby!
Time to get the winter trail running shoes out!!!
Isn’t the Niagara peninsula SOUTH of the GTA?
Hmm? Because it’s easier to drive on a bare road, and not one that is covered in snow? Just a thought. I laugh when I hear them say they were caught by surprise. I guess they don’t have windows at the snow plow buildings to see outside. Or maybe they don’t have 680 NEWS playing at the snowplow buildings to hear the weather forecasts.
For “Useless City”‘ why the heck would the city need to run plows and salters for 5-10 cm of snow anyhow?
“battered” with 5-10cm……LOL, sooooo this could get all the way up to the top of my sneakers?
LOL! I was thinking the same thing
Where I grew up the norm was 5 feet of snow, no big deal.
It depends how many will they decide to send out
how much salt will be assigned per truck
Where they will decide to clean
The operaing word is – as little as possible so that they can keep our tax money and it will be defensible to laugh at those in collisions because their tires were no good.
I wonder how long the snow will fall before Toronto gets out the plows and salters this time, 10 hours, 12 hours? More?