Winter storm brings heavy snow and strong winds to GTHA

Friday the 13^th lived up to its name, as a winter storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, leaving many unlucky drivers to deal with dangerous road conditions.

Toronto and the parts of the GTHA were under a special weather statement for most of the day as an Alberta clipper moved through the region.

The special weather statement was briefly lifted on Friday afternoon before being reissued hours later.

• Your hourly and 7-day forecast on our CP24.com weather hub

In the first advisory, Environment Canada initially said Toronto would see five to eight centimetres. The latest advisory says an additional five centimetres is expected

“A mixture of wet snow and some rain will change over to snow this evening. Snow will then continue tonight, and as temperatures drop below freezing later this evening, occasional blowing snow associated with strong northwest wind gusts of 60 to 70 km/h will be possible in exposed areas,” Environment Canada said.

The federal agency added that winds are expected to ease on Saturday morning.

The snow caused some problems on the road, including in the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 at Guelph Line near Milton, which were closed due to a collision involving two tractor-trailers

The highway reopened just after 3 p.m.

OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said numerous other collisions were also reported amid quickly deteriorating road conditions elsewhere in the GTA.

“If you don’t need to be on the roads, it is a great day to stay home, stay away and wait for the system to pass,” he said. “I know that plows and salters are out there already.”

Pickering, Oshawa, Newmarket, Georgina, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, and Markham remain under a yellow snowfall warning, with up to 15 centimetres possible in those areas, and snowfall rates potentially reaching 5 centimetres an hour during the peak of the storm.

“Travel will likely be challenging. There may be a significant impact on rush hour traffic. Visibility will likely be reduced at times,” the snowfall warning states.

• Your hourly and 7-day forecast on our CP24.com weather hub

Icy roads and sidewalks may also lead to slippery conditions on Friday due to falling temperatures overnight, the advisory warned.

The city will see a high of 3 C on Friday but it will feel closer to -8 this morning.

Daytime highs of 3 C and 4 C are in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday.