A heavy, steady snow continued to fall late into Wednesday night, capping off a day filled with extreme winter weather and the predictable traffic mishaps that accompany it.

In the end the O.P.P. reported over 645 crashes, as drivers failed to heed the warnings to slow down.

The storm came in two distinct waves.  Torontonians woke up to a white city, but the worst was yet to come.  A second, prolonged dumping proved even more intense than the intial snowfall.

The first wave brought about 10 centimetres of heavy, wet flakes just in time for the morning rush, followed by the briefest of respites in the early afternoon. It started snowing again just before the long journey home and the roads picked up right where they left off before crews could get to them - filled with black ice, slush and a seemingly non-stop supply of flakes.

How much you'll ultimately get depends a lot on where you are. By 6am, 17 centimetres had already hit the ground at Pearson International Airport, putting 1964's all-time Feb. 6th record of 19.8 centimetres in danger. But Buttonville only cleared off about 6 centimetres in the same time period.  

But the worst arrived after sundown, even accompanied at some points with a few ominous and rare claps of thunder and lightning. The heaviest band of frosted flakes from this same massive disturbance will drop 2-3 centimetres an hour on the GTA between about 6pm Wednesday and 2am Thursday morning. Overall, there could be 5-15cm during that time, with an additional 1-4cm by the time you wake up and clear it off your driveway - again - in the morning. Totals could be well above 20cm by your next trip to work.

All this has left police pleading with drivers to get home and stay home, because winds whipping up to 50 kilometres an hour could create white-outs in some places. And there's good reason to be concerned. The OPP was reporting a crash every two minutes during the morning drive. But as the rush home and the heavier snow approached, it got worse, with a crash a minute, a total that added up to over 640 accidents.

The carnage was keeping the city's collision reporting centres humming. Steve Brown was forced to drive there in the sticky slush. "The door and the body, I would say about $2,500 to $3,000 [in damage]," he estimates, looking at his smashed vehicle. What happened illustrates the rule that even if you're careful, it's not enough. "All of a sudden, a lady plowed into me in her little Toyota SUV," he laments.

The sheer volume of accidents has police fuming. "Most of them were just simple single vehicles going too fast, spinning into the guide rail, spinning into the ditch or into somebody else and that's very frustrating to us," admits OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley. "This storm was known well in advance. Citytv told everybody about it yesterday."

Ramps and bridges were especially treacherous and some drivers didn't quite make it up the hills on their way into work - or on the drive back. "Well, it's really slushy, and you have to really slow down just to make sure that you don't get in an accident," advises one.

"The secret is being defensive driving (sic), and if you're not defensive, you're going to be in a ditch somewhere," adds another.  

About the only transport unaffected was the subway. Buses, streetcars, taxis and anything requiring a surface route were all tangled up by the relentless storm, and even those trying to get away from it all at Pearson International Airport were frustrated that they couldn't fly far away from this terrible weather.

More than a hundred flights were delayed or cancelled because of the snow. If you plan on catching a plane, make sure you contact your airline or search here to find out your status.

Snow shovellers were forced to go out over and over again to keep up with the onslaught. And this wasn't last Friday's fluffier, lighter 'push snow.' This was heavy, wet and topped off with a layer of crisp icing. "It's a heavy snowfall. Nice and wet. Makes it more difficult to shovel," confirms Bruce Greenwood. "It's part of winter in Canada, I guess."

"Slow and easy," puffs Terry Marescaux as he attempts to finish the job. "I just take as much as I can lift comfortably."

How to safely shovel your driveway

And don't put those scoops away just yet. The future forecast shows some snowfall every day from now until at least next Monday. And while this storm will be long gone by then, those with small lawns near their driveways may wonder where they're going to put it all.

Check the latest forecast here

Other crucial storm links

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