Wet mix of rain, ice pellets, snow lashes Toronto

A wet mix of rain, ice pellets and snow lashed Toronto on Thursday, making for slippery streets and messy commutes.

Much of the city saw slushy weather on Thursday morning and afternoon as high winds swept Toronto. The city remains under a winter weather travel advisory.

For Paul Borg, a GTA resident, the wintry weather meant going to the hardware store early Thursday to pick up two bags of salt and the grocery store to get food.

"My shovels are all ready to go," Borg told CBC Toronto.

"We'll get by, we're Canadians, right?  Plus next week I'll be in Cuba so I don't care," he said.

There was a power outage in Scarborough and flooding in Etobicoke. The weather affected public transit and flights at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.

Environment Canada had said Toronto could expect between five and 10 centimetres of snow. Lesser amounts were expected near Lake Ontario. As of 9:45 p.m. according to a reading at Pearson, Toronto had received five centimetres, but another two centimetres were likely to fall by midnight, the federal weather agency said.

The snow was expected to taper off to flurries or drizzle later Thursday evening, with periods of snow or rain mixed with drizzle forecast for Friday morning. Environment Canada said the snow is expected to stop by midday on Friday.

Nadia Jagdeo, meteorologist for Environment Canada, said on Thursday nigh the wintry onslaught began in Toronto with high winds. That was followed by rain, ice pellets and then snow. Areas north and west of Toronto and Hamilton area got freezing rain, she added.

"If you were in Toronto, it was quite a wet and slushy day, especially if you were a pedestrian out there. It wasn't a nice day to be outside," she said. "You needed an umbrella for both the rain and the snow."

In Durham Region, the snow was heavier. Uxbridge received about 15 centimetres by 9:45 p.m., while Oshawa received about four centimetres.

There were 18 collisions in the city related to the weather between 12 noon and 8 p.m., but no one suffered serious injuries, according to Const. Alex Li, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service.

Li said there was flooding reported on various parts of the Don Valley Parkway. There was pooling of water in some areas, he said, but no need to close the expressway. The southbound Kipling Avenue on-ramp to westbound Gardiner Expressway was flooded, and was still being montored as of 9 p.m..

"If you don't have to travel, we suggest that you do stay home," Li said.

Ontario Provincial Police say they've investigated hundreds of crashes across the province, saying snow restricted visibility and obscured the roadway.

"When you have that snow on the ground in one regard, it's good, it reminds people to slow down, but on the other side, it's one of those hazards that when you aren't driving the right speed and you need to slow down ... you may be sliding farther than you think," said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, spokesperson for OPP's Highway Safety Division.

"Our officers are going call to call to call. Non-stop reports are coming in, tow trucks bringing in vehicles."

A power outage was reported in eastern Scarborough, affecting customers from Sheppard Avenue to Lake Ontario and Meadowvale Road to Rouge Hills Drive and surrounding areas, but crews restored power to a majority of customers by 8:30 p.m.

"Crews will continue to work as quickly and safely as possible to bring power back to the remaining customers," Toronto Hydro said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, areas farther north and east of the city remain under snowfall or freezing rain warnings, with Environment Canada warning drivers to prepare for hazardous conditions.

Parts of Durham Region, including Pickering, Oshawa, Uxbridge and Beaverton, could see between 15 and 20 centimetres of snow, Environment Canada said.

A number of school boards in the GTA cancelled bus service for the day, though schools remained open for in-person learning.

Pearson International Airport and GO Transit both told passengers to check ahead for possible disruptions. The weather led to the delay or cancellation of several flights at Pearson.

Metrolinx spokesperson Matt Llewellyn said GO Transit reduced schedules for Lakeshore West, Kitchener, Barrie and Milton routes and stop all express trains on Thursday.

In Toronto, all subway service on the Line 3 Scarborough line has stopped due to the weather. Shuttle buses are running between Kennedy and McCowan Stations. However, the TTC has also stopped service at 41 bus stops to "prevent buses from getting stuck on known icy trouble spots on hills," according to a tweet.

The city, meanwhile, says it has opened three warming centres for vulnerable people and those experiencing homelessness at Scarborough Civic Centre, Metro Hall and Mitchell Field Community Field.

Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment Canada, said a low-pressure system travelling from the U.S., known as the Colorado low, brought the wintry weather to Ontario.

He said southeastern regions of southern Ontario should see up tp 20 centimetres of snow by Friday night, and up to 25 cm in northeastern regions by Saturday morning.

City '100% prepared' to clear snow

Vincent Sferrazza, the City of Toronto's director of operations and maintenance, said crews began applying liquid salt brine to high-priority intersections, hills, bridges and highways overnight. He said the city has about 1,100 pieces of snow-clearing equipment ready to go.

"We are 100 per cent prepared," he said early Thursday. "As soon as the snow starts to fall and it starts to stick, the equipment will be out."

The city said salting was underway on all roadways, with sidewalks, separated bike lanes and multi-use trails being monitored and cleared across the city. Plowing was to start when the snow reached 2.5 centimetres on expressways, five centimetres on major roads, transit routes and streets with hills, and eight centimetres on residential streets.

A map provided by the city shows the real-time locations of snow plows, sidewalk plows and snow trucks. Residents can access it on the City of Toronto website.

The weather could prove to be the first major test of the city's new snow-clearing contracts, which were signed last year. CBC Toronto reported this week that behind the scenes, the effort has been plagued with problems.