Toronto got hit with its first taste of winter weather during the evening rush hour on Monday.
A special weather statement was put into effect for the GTA and most of southern Ontario. In the advisory issued by Environment Canada, the national weather agency said steady snow would begin in the late afternoon.
The city was expected to see about five to 10 centimetres of snowfall by Tuesday morning, when it is anticipated that flurries will taper off.
“Although localized amounts of 10 to 15 cm are possible, the snowfall warning criterion of 15 cm of snow in 12 hours is not expected to be reached,” Environment Canada’s advisory read.
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook said about 15 collisions took place during the evening commute.
“We’re really urging not just the motorists but the pedestrians as well – we’re really urging everyone to slow down and take their time and not be in a rush,” she said.
Prior to the snow fall, the City of Toronto’s winter operations departments said brine had been applied to hills and bridges and about 200 salt trucks were on standby.
“The city takes a very proactive approach and a multi-prong approach to managing any kind of winter weather,” spokesperson for the City of Toronto Wynna Brown said. “We start off with monitoring – we have winter monitoring stations throughout the city – we are checking on the road conditions very closely.”
“We send out our anti-icers to lay down brine on the main roads and the expressways to make sure that we are prepared in advance of a storm and then we’re ready with the salt trucks to follow and the plows after that.”
A high of -3 C is in the forecast for Toronto on Monday and the temperature is expected to drop by stead increments on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
