It could be a messy commute on Thursday morning as the city digs out from a major winter storm.

The snow began falling on Wednesday morning but only began to intensify late Wednesday afternoon.

Meteorologists say that the bulk of the snowfall will come in the overnight hours with a total accumulation of up to 25 centimetres likely by Thursday morning.

“I wouldn’t expect bare roads necessarily because the snow looks like it is just going to keep coming, so there will be slippery conditions and probably poor visibility for the morning commute,” city spokesperson Eric Holmes told CP24 on Wednesday.

Holmes said that the city applied a salt brine to expressways, hills and bridges in advance of the storm on Tuesday.

He said that salt trucks were also out in full force on Wednesday as the snow began to fall.

As for plows, Holmes said they will likely be deployed to expressways and main roads sometime around 8 p.m. and then be put on local roads once the threshold has been met (8 centimetres of snow).

“We are going to see several days of cleanup,” he said.

Police respond to collisions

York Regional Police said they responded to more than four dozen collisions during the afternoon rush hour.

As of 11 p.m., York police said they were called to 50 crashes in the region. Of those, 10 have resulted into injuries. Six of those collisions are being investigated as hit-and-runs.

Toronto police said they have responded to at least 35 collision since this afternoon.

One person was taken to hospital with minor injuries after six vehicles collided in the area of Bathurst Street and Davenport Road.

Police said one of the vehicles involved fled the scene.

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said they are responding to 25 crashes on GTA highways.