Ontario and Quebec dig out of massive snowstorm as Prairies prepare for more ice and snow
Ontario and Quebec dig out of massive snowstorm as Prairies prepare for more ice and snow
Residents across parts of Ontario and Quebec are recovering from a winter wallop that could take days to clean up. After leaving drivers stranded and schools closed, both provinces are now digging their way out of the biggest winter storm of the season.
Snow removal crews are out in full force in Ottawa as they begin the process of clearing residential streets out from under a record amount of snow. By the end of the day on Monday, a total of 48 centimetres fell across the city.
With 13,000 kilometres of roadway to clear, officials say the cleanup will likely roll into Wednesday to include residential streets as well as sidewalks. A 24-hour winter parking ban is also now in effect.
Monday began with heavy snowfall for residents of Ottawa; starting at 8 a.m., about 12 centimetres of snow had fallen within the hour. By 5 p.m., Ottawa International Airport saw 47 centimetres of snow, according to Environment Canada, eclipsing the record snowfall of 11.7 centimetres set on the same day in 1972. The city of Toronto reported a similar amount of snow, with different neighbourhoods seeing anywhere from 40 to 48 centimetres.
Several regions across the southern part of the province were under a blizzard warning from Environment Canada on Monday due to high winds and poor visibility, including Toronto, York, Peel, Hamilton, Halton and Durham regions. Up to 55 centimetres of snow fell in certain parts of the province.
SITUATION CLEARING UP IN MONTREAL
Snow clearing operations began in many of Montreal’s boroughs during the day on Tuesday, with others expected to be plowed later this evening. The process is likely to continue throughout the week as crews look to clean up about 25 centimetres of snow that dropped throughout the city.
Priority for snow removal is being given to hospitals, public transit systems and major arteries in the city. About 2,200 trucks are involved in removing snow from 10,000 kilometres of roads, sidewalks and bike lanes across the city.
In the province of Quebec, several regions continue to be under extreme cold warnings, including Waskaganish, Parent-Gouin Reservoir, Matagami, Chibougamau and Abitibi. With the wind chill, temperatures felt as cold as -42.
SOME SCHOOLS REMAIN CLOSED
As a result of continued clean-up efforts, school buses have been cancelled at all major school boards in Ottawa on Tuesday. Schools themselves, however, remain open with classes still scheduled to resume through in-person learning.
In other parts of Ontario, several school boards said classes will go ahead remotely on Tuesday through online learning. These include the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the York Region District School Board.
The Toronto District School Board, however, said that schools will remain closed to in-person learning and that students will not participate in live remote or virtual learning, either. The Durham District School Board cancelled all in-person classes.
Similar to Ontario, school boards in Quebec remained closed to in-person learning on Monday, with some schools offering online alternatives. Classes resumed on Tuesday.
Also feeling the storm’s effects were drivers across both provinces. In Quebec, westbound lanes of Highway 20 were closed for more than two hours after two separate pileups on Monday, according to Transports Québec's road closures Twitter account, Québec 511.
Highway 30 westbound was also closed in Saint-Constant at Rang Regis, after a crash involving as many as 40 vehicles. The roads have since been cleared and reopened. Eight people involved in the collision were taken the hospital.
PRAIRIES PREPARE FOR WINTER PUNCH
As one winter storm in Canada comes to a close, another is just beginning. Some parts of the Prairies that were already hit with freezing rain are now being hit with snow and plunging temperatures.
Winter storm and wind warnings were in place for much of Alberta on Monday, with parts of the province currently under extreme cold and snowfall warnings. Parts of southern Manitoba were expected to see heavy snowfall Monday evening into Tuesday, with many under either a snowfall or winter storm warning from Environment Canada. Blizzard and extreme cold warnings are being issued in parts of Saskatchewan as well.
Edmonton was already grappling with icy streets and sidewalks Monday, and the city's police said they responded to 190 collisions between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. RCMP in northern Alberta recommended late Monday that people stay off the highways after they said they'd responded to multiple collisions.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars.
W5 Producer Shelley Ayres explains how she was in awe to meet what the Guinness Book of World Record's has named the World's Tallest Teenager, a 17-year-old from Quebec who plays for Team Canada.
CTV W5 investigates what authorities knew about plans to smuggle cocaine out of the Dominican Republic on a Toronto-bound Pivot Airlines flight. The airline's crew is demanding justice following their eight-month detention.
Gordie Sampson has written hit songs for some of the biggest names in country music, including Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan. CTV W5 speaks with the Grammy winner from small-town Nova Scotia about his creative process.
A CTV W5 investigation reveals that a critical shortage of volunteer firefighters in this country is having a potentially deadly impact, especially in rural Canada.
Sandie Rinaldo tells the story of the largest Black military unit in Canadian history, whose members had to fight to serve for Canada in the First World War as they faced rampant racism at home.
Three Toronto men have been charged with attempted murder after they allegedly shot an innocent dog walker in Schomberg, Ont. in a case of mistaken identity.
As baseball leagues get underway across Ontario, many are struggling to find umpires. Hundreds of umpires are needed, and even large tournaments are calling in replacements from out of province.
Gatineau police arrested an 18-year-old man in connection to the investigation into a hidden camera discovered in the washroom at an elementary school.
Police charged three men, believed to be members of a street gang, with the attempted murder of a 65-year-old man who was shot 13 times while walking his dog in Schomberg in February.
Multiple sources have told CTV News that the WSIB is now eyeing the 3M building at 300 Tartan Dr. near Veterans Memorial Parkway as a new headquarters.
Around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to two separate calls where citizens believed they heard gunshots in the 100 block of Albert Street near Talbot Street.
The defence has completed its closing summations in an ongoing Windsor murder trial involving the shooting death of 20-year-old Madisen Gingras in April of 2020.
Shoppers with a sweet tooth completely sold out a small town bakery in the Town of Essex recently, while streetscape construction continues in front of the Essex Centre store.
Parts of Quebec's controversial language law that took effect Thursday could still be tweaked, according to the minister responsible for the French language.
Planning to pass time in Montreal's many parks this summer? Check yourself for ticks, warns one woman who recently contracted Lyme disease. Jasmine Rochereul, 23, says she spent much of last summer sprawled in city parks, where she believes she picked up the tick-borne illness.
It's the start of a new season at Moraine Lake and for the first time, you will have to take a shuttle bus to access the famous landmark -- no matter how early you're willing to show up.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Researchers at Carleton University's Department of Electronics in Ottawa created a ground-breaking testing device to detect early signs of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s through biomolecular activities in a person’s saliva.
Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters on Thursday that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, director Christopher Nolan offers a guide to his favourite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don't feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theatre.
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,' 'On Broadway,' 'Walking in the Rain' and dozens of other hits, has died at age 82.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
The wildfires plaguing residents in Alberta and Nova Scotia are part of a larger trend that's driving up the cost of home insurance as extreme weather becomes more common, insurance experts say.
Memphis guard Ja Morant not being charged with a crime for twice displaying a gun on social media will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday.
The Detroit Grand Prix, coming off Josef Newgarden's win at the Indianapolis 500, provides drivers and teams with a chance for a fresh start for the rest of the season.
America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.
