Snow storm to hit GTA

[spaminator]

Snow storm to hit GTA Monday night: Environment Canada
By Jenny Yuen, Toronto Sun
First posted: Sunday, December 27, 2015 06:07 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, December 27, 2015 06:13 PM EST
Well, we knew it couldn’t last forever.


Hogtown was blessed with a balmy, record-breaking warm and green Christmas, but Environment Canada says that the GTA will see some snowy weather, beginning Monday night.


Environment Canada on Sunday issued a major winter storm watch for Toronto, with up to 15 centimetres of snow and ice pellets expected before the precipitation changes to freezing rain early Tuesday.


The freezing rain will change to rain or drizzle during the day Tuesday.


And it will be a windy one, with gusts up to 70 km/h Monday evening.


“Travel conditions will rapidly deteriorate Monday evening as visibilities drop to near zero and roads become covered in snow and ice pellets. Significant disruption to travel may persist into Tuesday,” says Environment Canada.


The city’s 600 snow plows, 300 sidewalk plows and 200 salt trucks were ready to hit the streets, according to Toronto’s transportation services department.


“Our crews are ready to go. We will be monitoring road conditions and will respond as necessary to the weather,” said spokesman Steve Johnston.


As soon as the flakes begin to fall, salt trucks head to expressways and main roads and local roads.


If two centimetres of snow falls, the plows will head out to expressways. Once more than five centimetres falls, plows hit the main roads and will continue to clear arterials for the duration of the storm.


When the snow stops and if the snow accumulation reaches 8 centimetres, plows will be sent to the local roads.


“The city will clear snow from sidewalks on roads with high pedestrian traffic and on bus routes where it is mechanically possible to do so after two centimetres of snow has fallen and the remaining roads after eight centimetres have fallen,” Johnston said.


Property owners are required to clear their sidewalks of snow 12 hours after a storm has taken place.


jenny.yuen@sunmedia.ca
Snow storm to hit GTA Monday night: Environment Canada | Toronto & GTA | News |

 

[Walter]

Weather change.

 

[darkbeaver]

It's been snowing here for 20 hours more or less, I think we got about 25cm, temp to drop arround noon wind 40 -70 KPH, Blizzard, Whiteout, Windchill -20, power out in places, global warming sucks.

 

[B00Mer]

It's been snowing here for 20 hours more or less, I think we got about 25cm, temp to drop arround noon wind 40 -50 KPH, Blizzard, Whiteout, global warming sucks.

Time to hit the ski slopes... woOt!

We needed this 4 days ago for Christmas... For a white Christmas.

Look at the weather in Texas, quit complaining. Tornados hit the Metroplex (Dallas Ft Worth), floods in the South East and snow in New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Many lives lost.

 

[darkbeaver]

Yeah, I know I'm soft and spoiled.

After the GTA enjoys that snow storm we get it tomorrow night.

 

[lone wolf]

I plowed in that town. Wanna create meyhem? Drop three snowflakes on the intersection of 400 & 401

 

[petros]

2 weeks of sunshine in my forecast. Now that is something to be in awe of.

 

[Curious Cdn]

As soon as the flakes begin to fall, salt trucks head to expressways and main roads and local roads.


One comment about that line. The climate here is peculiar, almost unique on Earth being both Continental and Maritime at the same time. Southern Ontario is a penninsula surrounded on three sides by massive bodies of water, therefore it remains humid all of the time. Black ice pops up here and there without warning an it is a killer on the highways. I hit a patch last winter along with about a dozen vehicles in the dark on a 400 level highway. We all spun around like tops. I came within a foot of being plowed into by a spinning F-250 pickup. Salt is the only thing that works against it.

Having said that, I come from a much more wintry part of Canada and the way that drivers here cope is pretty poor.

 

[spaminator]

Winter hits T.O.
By Jenny Yuen , Kevin Connor, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, December 28, 2015 08:25 PM EST | Updated: Monday, December 28, 2015 09:02 PM EST
Winter hit Toronto on Monday night.


Torontonians bundled up for this winter’s first dump of snow which contributed to a flurry of accidents on the city’s slippery streets.


Toronto Police Staff-Sgt. Debbie Hartford said that the first snowfall of the year always presents a tricky enviornment for drivers.


“The weather is getting bad. We had all kinds of accidents,” said Hartford, who added that there was a slew of mishaps on the roads, starting at about 7 p.m.


The OPP started receiving calls about accidents just after the dinner hour.


“It’s messy and greasy out there and we are getting more calls than normal,” said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.


“Traffic is moving slower, but the plows are out there doing their work.”





•Hector Moreno, manager of Transportation Services


—The city was “on target” having spent 95% of its $85-million annual snow removal budget for 2015 as of Monday.


— A storm of Monday night’s calibre will likely force the department to exhaust the remainder of its 2015 budget. The city has reserves to fall back on if there is any more snow this week and will tap into its 2016 budget to deal with anything that falls next year.


—Salt purchases were made in November and December


“We were estimating (going) over $1.5 million to $2 million over-budget in the event of having a couple of storms in December. We’ve been blessed with mild weather over the course of the summer into the fall. Crews have been busy doing other things, including road repairs, pot hole repairs and road sweeping.”


•Peter Kimbell, Environment Canada warning preparedness meteorologist


— As of noon on Dec. 28, Toronto had 0.8 centimetres of snowfall since the start of November “which is way below normal.”


— The average snowfall for the months of November and December is 32.5 centimetres.


— In 2014, 35.5 centimetres of snow fell in November and December and in 2013, Torontonians had to contend with 34.1 centimetres of the white stuff.


—The record for the highest amount of snowfall on a Dec. 28 came in 1968 when 28.7 centimetres fell to the ground.


Kimbell wasn’t able to gather data on lowest snowfall on that date.


“I personally feel it’s more a factor of El Nino. There’s also the natural variability of weather and too many other factors for us to know.”


Toronto set record-breaking warm temperatures on Christmas Eve with 15.4C. The old record was 12.2C in 1964.


jenny.yuen@sunmedia.ca
Winter hits T.O. | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun