Toronto air travellers face new delays on cold day

The temperature is due to rise in Toronto after a snowy blast from Mother Nature on the weekend, but air travellers faced more delays at Pearson airport on Sunday due to weather issues elsewhere and an existing backlog of flights.

More than 100 flights for travellers heading to and from the eastern U.S., Quebec and other destinations were either delayed or cancelled because of a storm hitting south of the border. A similar number of cancellations had resulted at Pearson the day before because of snowfall on Saturday night.

Some travellers were still trying to book flights that had already been delayed as a result of snow that fell in Toronto on Saturday night.

Scott Armstrong, a spokesman for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said it was hoped that the cancellations that resulted from the snow on Saturday night would be dealt with by the end of Sunday.

But Armstrong said the U.S. storm could prompt additional changes to flight schedules at Pearson.

Toronto had been under an extreme cold weather alert since Saturday, but officials ended the alert earlier today.

From midnight onward, Environment Canada said the temperature at Toronto's Pearson airport fell from -10 C to as low as -16 C by the mid-morning.

By the mid-afternoon, the temperature at the airport stood at -11 C, but felt like -19 C with the windchill.

CBC meteorologist Ross Hull said the cold conditions won’t last much longer.

"We’ve got a system approaching and temperatures will actually start rising by Monday," Hull reported Sunday.

"The payoff, or the tradeoff, if you will, is going to be rain or even some snow and mixed precipitation as the system moves in on Tuesday."

Environment Canada says Toronto will see a high of 0 C on Monday, followed by a high of 3 C on Tuesday.