‘Significant’ snowfall blankets Toronto dumping up to 19 cm of snow in some parts

March 21, 2024 Canuck

The Toronto area was blanketed with heavy snow Friday, dumping up to 19 centimetres in some parts of the city.

An earlier snowfall warning ended early Saturday morning. Environment Canada called for total accumulations of 15 centimetres to 20 centimetres and peak snowfall rates of two to three centimetres per hour.

David Rodgers, senior meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said in an interview Saturday morning that up to 19 centimetres of snow had fallen in Scarborough. At Toronto’s Pearson International Airport and at the University of Toronto, roughly between 11 to 12 centimetres had been recorded.

Meanwhile, in Scarborough and North York, 15 centimetres had fallen. The snow had been forecast to taper off from west to east later on Friday.

Rodgers said Saturday that the snowfall may be the heaviest the Toronto area has seen so far this year.

“We haven’t had much more than 10 centimetres so far this winter,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers said the snow will melt in the coming days because of the high temperatures in the forecast. The high for Saturday is expected to 3 C, while the high for Sunday is expected to be 0 C. On Monday and Tuesday, the high temperature is forecast to be 7 C.

Vincent Sferrazza, director of operations and maintenance of Toronto’s transportation services, says salting began Wednesday and liquid brine was applied at various locations across the city Thursday night in preparation for the snowfall. (CBC)

The snowfall warning comes days after the official start of spring in Toronto was marked earlier this week.

“March can definitely be a winter month, it’s not that surprising given how little winter weather we seemed to have throughout the actual winter months,” Rodgers said.

“I’m not too surprised to see that Mother Nature has one last [blast] of winter weather for us.”

Toronto Pearson Airport said airlines cancelled nearly five per cent of all flights scheduled for Friday and some flights had been delayed. The airport said its crews have deiced 255 aircraft so far on Friday.

Meanwhile, road conditions remained slippery and Ontario Provincial Police had said expect they will stay that way until at least midnight.

Salting underway since Wednesday, city says

The city of Toronto said it began salting Wednesday and liquid brine was applied in some locations Thursday night in preparation for the snowfall. Crews started Friday’s first salting operation on major roadways around 11:30 a.m.

“On the expressways, the Don Valley and the Allen and the Gardner, we hope to have at least three rounds of salting, and on the local roads we’ll have at least one round of salting,” Vincent Sferrazza, director of operations and maintenance of Toronto’s transportation services, said.

Earlier, the city said it would deploy plows to expressways and major thoroughfares after 2.5 centimetres of snow had accumulated and to residential streets after eight centimetres. Sidewalk and separated bike lane clearing would be deployed after two centimetres of snow accumulated, it said.

“Due to snowfall accumulations and windy conditions, fallen snow may move and previously cleared areas may require multiple rounds of clearing operations,” the city said, adding plowing will continue throughout the weekend.

Four warming centres are also being kept open through the storm, in Scarborough, North York, downtown Toronto and one near Spadina Road and Dupont Street, the city said.

Service disruption at 56 TTC bus stops

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), meanwhile, said Friday evening it’s experiencing disruptions to transit service on bus and streetcar routes.

The transit agency said it planned to deploy additional buses on a route-by-route basis Friday in anticipation of heavy snowfall, with extra TTC employees and maintenance vehicles throughout the system.

The additional staff were brought in to salt and clear surfaces of snow, keep signals, switches and overhead power operating and attending to any weather-related challenges, it said.

Starting at 3 p.m., the TTC said it would temporarily suspend service at 56 bus stops in areas “prone to weather-related disruptions.” The agency said the service change is to keep customers safe and maintain operational efficiency.

Commuters are advised to check if their bus stop is in service on the TTC’s website.

Several GO bus routes are also experiencing similar delays. The Niagara Falls-Toronto, Hamilton-Toronto Express and Waterloo-Hamilton routes are delayed by up to 25 minutes, its website says.

Halton police issued a reminder to motorists Friday afternoon that they should drive according to conditions and give extra time to get where they are going.

“If you don’t need to drive, please stay home,” police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Halton is expected to see a significant snowfall this afternoon and into the evening. <br>Please remember to drive according to conditions & give yourself extra time to get where you’re going. <br>If you don’t need to drive, please stay home. <a href=”https://t.co/4c2e3CqSKt”>pic.twitter.com/4c2e3CqSKt</a>

—@HaltonPolice