Roller-coaster winter brings messy mix of snow, possible freezing rain, to southern Ontario

Southern Ontario's roller-coaster weather continues this weekend.

Temperatures across the southern half of the province have soared compared to earlier this week — from Tuesday's -30 degree wind chills up to highs today actually expected to climb above zero — however, along with these more 'balmy' conditions, a storm passing over the lower Great Lakes is still reminding us that we have a long way to go before we see the last of this winter.

The morning started off fairly quiet as the storm began its trek across southern Ontario, but things picked up considerably as the first bands of snow started to pass through and they hit a current of air streaming off Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. That combination is promising around 15 centimetres of snow across a wide swath just for today — from Sarnia and communities along the eastern shores of Lake Huron, all the way east to Ottawa and Cornwall. More snow is expected to fall overnight before the storm moves on for Sunday, possibly adding another 5 centimetres to what's already there.

These bands of snow are likely to drop between 5 and 10 centimetres on regions along the shores of Lake Erie, through the Greater Toronto Area and along Lake Ontario to Kingston. While that's not much, it will likely cause a few traffic headaches across the most densely populated region of the country. However, as conditions warm up even more this afternoon, the snow will be switching over to a combination of rain and wet snow, possibly with some freezing rain thrown into the mix later in the day.

The brief shot of rain and possible freezing rain will make for a messy afternoon and evening, but driving conditions may worsen tonight as temperatures drop back below freezing and wet road surfaces freeze over in places (especially on bridges).

Most roads and highways are still being reported as clear as of midday, with conditions worse on some roads leading west out of Hamilton, and in and around the Barrie area. Updated conditions can be found on the MTO website. Environment Canada has issued snowfall warnings across the province, due to the large amount of snow falling over just a short amount of time. A special weather statement is also in effect, advising of the changing conditions throughout the day.

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This storm will have moved out of Ontario by Sunday morning, but it's expected to stretch all the way into the Maritimes by then, spreading snowy conditions through New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia by Sunday morning, and it could drop up to 15 centimetres of snow across parts of Newfoundland by Sunday night.

(Photo courtesy: The Canadian Press)

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