With the unusually mild temperatures the city experienced throughout December and into the New Year it seemed as though winter would never arrive, but Torontonians are expected to get their first taste of blustery weather Sunday and Monday.
Environment Canada has issued a Snowfall Warning for the GTA and Winter Storm Warnings are in effect for much of southern Ontario. Forecasters are expecting as much as 15 centimetres of snow to fall on the city Sunday night through until Monday.
The storm is also expected to dump some freezing rain on the southern part of the province along with heavy snow at times.
Because there has been so little snow so far this winter, the accumulation expected over the next two days could catch drivers off guard and motorists are being reminded to use extra caution out on the roads, especially during the busy Monday morning commute.
"The most important thing is just to be cognizant of your surroundings," said Traffic Services Const. Courtney Yourkin.
"Take your time, don't speed, don't tailgate, you'll get there."
Still, while many drivers may be caught off guard,
officials with the City of Toronto insists they won't be.
"We have 200 salters on the ready and 600 ploughs, should we see accumulations where we need to send out our ploughs tonight," said Myles Currie, Road Operations Manager for the City of Toronto.
"The salters are ready to go so as soon as we see snow starting to fall or icy conditions we can have them on the road within five minutes."
And Environment Canada predicts the coldest air mass so far this season will move in over the region during the workweek after the snowstorm blows over.
For the latest forecast,
click here.
And to check out
CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss' weather blog,
click here.
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