Winter weather returns to GTA
Posted April 15, 2014 1:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Spring seemed like a distant memory as the GTA was hit with a blast of winter weather on Tuesday, on what could be the coldest April 15 on record.
On Monday, Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for much of southern Ontario, including Toronto and the GTA, warning of a mix bad of precipitation and the return of cold temperatures on Tuesday.
The weather agency lifted the statement just after 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, after the worst had passed.
An Arctic cold front passed through southern Ontario, resulting in temperatures plunging to below the freezing mark early on Tuesday morning.
Another disturbance that tracked alongside the cold front brought with it freezing rain, ice pellets and snow.
The precipitation started with rain, then ice pellets and some freezing rain, and then turned to snow.
“Conditions will improve as we work through the day,” 680News meteorologist Jill Taylor said, but many areas still received some snow.
Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa saw about 1-2 centimetres, Taylor said, while Toronto, both at Downsview and at Pearson, received 3-4 cm.
Three centimetres fell in Kitchener; six cenitmres fell in Fergus and in Listowel, west of Fergus, there were 8-10 centimetres of snow.
A high of 4 C was already reached at midnight, but Taylor said the temperature will be near 0 C for the rest of the day. It will be mainly clear on Tuesday night with a low of -6 C.
Earlier in the day, Mike, a school bus driver in Aurora, told 680News the road conditions were deteriorating during the morning commute.
“The local streets are icy, Yonge Street is going slow … it’s more ice than water,” he said.
There were also some bus cancellations but outside of the GTA. Click here for a list.
Click here for the forecast.
