Commuters across Canada woke up to their very own winter wonderland on Monday morning, after snowfall accumulated overnight.

Atlantic regions are continuing to be blanketed by snow with another snowfall warning in effect for nearly all of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Another 15 centimetres of snow is expected to fall into Monday night.

Many schools in the region stayed closed on Monday while others shuttered their doors at noon, making early afternoon traffic in Halifax look more like suppertime rush-hour as parents drove their children home and many others left work early.

“It would have been nice if they had decided this morning,” Halifax-area parent Steve Zwicker told CTV Atlantic. “Everybody else had closed them, I think, around the province. Or most had. So, chaos now!”

Much of southern Ontario saw about 15 centimetres of snow fall Sunday afternoon through Sunday night in the region’s first big snowfall of the year. A special weather statement had been issued Sunday for the area.

“This is certainly the biggest storm we’ve had compared to last year, last year we had nothing,” Dave Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada, told CTV News Channel.

Some southern Ontario school districts cancelled school buses, but schools remained open throughout the region. Most school buses in the Greater Toronto Area were operating too.

Winter maintenance crews worked throughout the night to clear major roads in the GTA and continued to clear streets and sidewalks on Monday. The temperature is expected to hover above zero, resulting in some flurries or rain throughout the day.

Ontario Provincial Police reported nearly 500 accidents on the roads in the past 24 hours. According to Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the OPP, most of the accidents happened when drivers did not adjust their driving to the conditions.

“Panicked movement, aggressive steering and aggressive driving often lead to the issues,” said Kerry.

Toronto Pearson International Airport issued warnings to people scheduled to fly on Monday, to check their flight information for possible delays. So far, just over a hundred flights have been cancelled, 11 per cent of arriving flights and 6 per cent of departing flights, with more being delayed.

An additional five centimetres of snow was expected to fall in Ottawa Monday afternoon. The area already saw five to 10 centimetres of snow fall Sunday night.

Special weather statements and snowfall warnings continue to move east, as a low pressure system moves in from off of the Great Lakes. Southern Quebec is expected to see 15 to 20 centimetres of snow on top of the five centimetres that fell over Sunday night.

Northern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan and northern Manitoba will see minus 30 C temperatures throughout the day, possibly hitting below minus 50 C overnight. An extreme cold alert has been issued for the area. According to Phillips, regions in the Prairies may get a reprieve from the extreme cold weather starting next week when temperatures will hover around minus 5.

The harsh winter weather is believed to have led to one death in downtown Winnipeg.

A 53-year-old woman was found unconscious outside the Portage Place Mall on Sunday morning and later died.

Garry Corbett, the CEO of the Siloam Mission, says the cold snap has swamped the organization. Close to 30 people were turned away from the mission due to a lack of space.

"It just tears your heart out that somebody in this day and age would freeze to death outside at night," he told CTV Winnipeg.

According to Phillips, regions in the Prairies may get a reprieve from the extreme cold weather starting next week when temperatures will hover around minus 5.

"We think this winter is going to be colder than last year, but I don’t think it’s going to be brutal," said Phillips.

Parts of southern British Columbia were under a snowfall warning on Monday morning.

The Fraser Valley and parts of Metro Vancouver saw roughly 10 centimetres of snow, on top of the roughly 10 to 20 centimetres the areas saw over the weekend.

According to Phillips, however, more of the white stuff isn’t exactly bad news as it gives more of a chance for a picture-perfect holiday season.

“I think there’s a very good chance that Canada will have a white Christmas this year,” said Phillips. “That may be nature’s gift to us this year.”

 

Magical morning #snow #dawn #skyline

A photo posted by Sheri Allain (@sheri.allain) on

 

Got about 10 cm of #snow overnight. Looks pretty with the #Christmas lights! #Ottawa

A photo posted by Isobel Adams (@izzyadms) on