Major ice storm possible due to freezing rain in southern Ontario

For anyone who remembers the ice storm of 1998, that spread up to 120 mm (5 inches) of freezing rain across areas of eastern Ontario, southern Quebec and the Maritimes, seeing the words 'potential for a major ice storm' in your forecast might send a chill down your spine.

That's the word from the latest Environment Canada forecasts though, as a weather system moves into Ontario this morning, bringing a combination of rain, freezing rain and ice pellets for today, tonight and into Friday morning. As a result, weather warnings have been issued for regions across the southern part of the province.

[ Related: Messy, potentially dangerous weather on the way for Ontario ]

Freezing rain has already started to fall across areas of southwestern Ontario, with reports of ice build up on roads and sidewalks from the Kitchener-Waterloo/Cambridge/Guelph area through parts of the Greater Toronto Area. Ice pellets and snow are mixing in with this in some areas, and this mix of precipitation is expected to press eastward throughout the day.

Icy roads along the 401 corridor from east of London, through the Greater Toronto Area are expected to make for a difficult commute this morning, and possibly even a worse time later as the freezing rain continues, sometimes heavy at times, throughout the day.

"Of greater concern," says the Environment Canada freezing rain warning, "is the risk of widespread power outages from downed tree limbs and power lines due to significant ice accumulation combined with northeast winds gusting to 60 km/h."

The City of Toronto issued an Extreme Weather Alert yesterday, ahead of this storm, opening up additional shelters to help protect the city's homeless people.

School boards in several districts have cancelled bus service. Most schools remain open, but a scheduled Ontario Secondary School Literary Test (OSSLT) has been delayed by several boards because of the bad weather. A full list of these cancellations and closures can be found on CP24.com.

[ Related: Flood watches issued for regions of southwestern Ontario ]

Flights into and out of Toronto Pearson Airport have suffered multiple delays and cancellations, with over 200 flights (arrivals and departures combined) cancelled so far. That's only expected to worsen throughout the day, so anyone flying out today or tonight, or expecting to fly in to Toronto before Friday, should check the status of their flight ahead of time.

In 1998, a series of storms passed through eastern Ontario, southern Quebec and the Maritimes, dumping 80 hours worth of freezing rain over some areas. Called "The Great Ice Storm of 1998", it caused widespread power outages, some which took weeks to resolve, and it resulted in a total of 35 deaths and nearly 1,000 injuries. All told, it cost between $5-7 billion dollars in damages.

This particular weather system is only expected to last for about 24 hours, but whereas it may not last as long, with the possibility of heavy downpours of freezing rain over one of the most densely-populated regions of the country, this could have the potential to become the Great Ice Storm of 2013.

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