TORONTO — A major winter storm expected to bring blizzard-like conditions and possible flash freezing to much of Ontario prompted several school boards to announce closures as residents were warned that travel could become hazardous.
Environment Canada had placed all of southern Ontario and much of northern Ontario under weather warnings by Thursday afternoon, with punishing conditions forecast for Friday.
"With the conditions we're expecting, all forms of travel are going to be impacted," Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada, said in an interview.
The weather agency advised against non-essential travel as combined snowfall and damaging winds were expected to create dangerous driving conditions across the province.
Power outages are "very likely," said Flisfeder.
"Given the additional conditions of the snow with those winds, it's going to make for difficult repairs and mitigation throughout the storm."
Several schools boards, including the Toronto District School Board and boards in York Region, Ottawa and the Peterborough area, announced that their schools would be closed on Friday in anticipation of the storm.
"We recognize that these decisions can have a significant impact on thousands of families across Toronto and are not taken lightly," the TDSB wrote in a statement. "However, given the current weather forecast, we felt it was prudent to make this decision now to provide families and staff with as much notice as possible,"
The forecast storm is likely to add to the already tumultuous scenes at Canadian airports after storms in Western Canada grounded hundreds of flights this week in Vancouver, Victoria and Calgary.
Toronto's Pearson International Airport warned travellers to check their flight status before arriving at the terminal.
Hydro One, Ontario's largest electricity utility, said teams were prepared to respond to any outages. Toronto Hydro reminded customers to refresh their emergency kits and said additional crews were ready to support customers through the weekend.
In parts of southern Ontario, forecasted rain Thursday combined with plummeting temperatures into Friday could result in flash freezing conditions, Environment Canada warned.
In the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, the agency was calling for between five and 15 centimetres of snow by Saturday and possible 90 km/h wind gusts. Ottawa could see closer to 10 to 15 centimetres by Friday afternoon.
A "crippling blizzard" could hit parts of southwestern Ontario, including Niagara, bringing heavy snow and wind gusts at times closer to 120 km/h, Environment Canada said.
Damaging wind gusts and blizzard-like conditions are also forecast for areas around Kingston and Belleville along the northern shores of Lake Ontario.
"We're going to be experiencing wind gusts of 90 to 100-plus kilometres per hour over several hours most of Friday. It's a much longer duration of those strong winds and that just increases the likelihood of power outages throughout the event," said Flisfeder.
Greater Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and areas along the eastern shores of Lake Superior could see between 20 and 40 centimetres of snow by Saturday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2022.
Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press
