Chaos abound as freezing weather grounds flights at Toronto airport

Cold temperatures across central and eastern Canada have shut down the country's largest airport, scrubbing every scheduled to arrive flight Tuesday morning and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and separated from their luggage.

About 200 flight landings at Toronto Pearson International Airport have been cancelled, as well as more than 110 departures, leaving a long queue of planes lining the tarmac and waiting a chance to offload passengers.

The situation has grown tense inside the airport to the point that, according to reports from CBC News, additional police and security have been called in to patrol the terminals.

The temperature at Toronto Pearson International Airport was -23C Tuesday morning, one day after freezing rain warnings and snow squall alerts were issued across the Greater Toronto Area. Factoring in the wind chill, temperatures at the airport feel more like -40C.

The airport says that the extreme cold is causing equipment to freeze and presents safety issues for employees. Some departing planes have been able to leave because they were previously services and prepared. Travel restrictions will remain in effect until 10 a.m., when they will be reassessed.

[ Related: Winter weather causes massive travel backlog ]

Air Canada says that the cancellations and delays have been caused by winter storm conditions in eastern Canada and the U.S. northeast. Airports in Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and some U.S. cities including New York and Chicago are also experiencing delays and cancellations.

WestJet released a similar weather advisory. Twenty-eight arrivals have already been cancelled and 16 departing flights have been scrubbed. Both airlines are urging passengers to check their flight status before travelling to the airport. Rebooking tools are available on their company websites.

WestJet is further warning customers that the chaos may result in some passengers being offloaded from flights without their luggage, while passengers on board other flights may be asked to remain on board. "We have been advised that in order to efficiently process incoming aircraft, guests will be offloaded as soon as gates become available but baggage will have to remain on board some flights until sometime Tuesday. WestJet baggage agents are advising guests on a flight-by-flight basis whether or not their baggage will be affected," the company said in a statement.

Needless to say, Pearson is a mess. Avoid the airport if at all possible today.