Poor driving conditions in GTA due to wintry weather; cold prompts alert in Toronto
Posted February 8, 2015 7:25 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Drivers in the GTA faced poor road conditions on Sunday due a mix of harsh winter weather, which prompted an extreme cold weather alert in Toronto.
Environment Canada issued a freezing drizzle advisory for Toronto, Hamilton and the regions of Halton, Peel, York and Durham. That advisory ended around 7:30 p.m.
The agency issued a blowing snow advisory for Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton for the overnight.
By Monday, the area will get about four to eight centimetres of snow, although some parts could get as many as 10 centimetres.
“Slow down and keep your windshield clear,” said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.
“Make sure you have your windshield-washer fluid topped up because you’ll be going through a lot of that on the highway.”
Meanwhile, airlines cancelled dozens of flights into and out of Pearson International Airport as a precautionary measure.
Pearson spokesman Scott Armstrong said most planes continued to arrive and depart, albeit with delays. Extra snow-removal crews were available to help as needed.
The snow will slowly taper off later Sunday night and driving conditions will slowly improve on Monday.
On top of the snow and ice, the GTA faced cold temperatures. Toronto’s medical officer of health announced an extreme cold weather alert on Sunday morning, opening up two 24-hour drop-in centres and extra shelter beds for the homeless.
680News meteorologist Harold Hosein said will only get colder over the next few days.
“Along with the light snow that we’re going to get, we’ve got to hunker down because we have wind chills in the order of -15 to -25 [until Monday,]” he said.
“This cold weather will continue. In fact, it will become much colder by the middle of the week.”
