Ontario is about to be slammed with up to 60 cm of snow

Parts of Ontario are bracing for an enormous dumping of snow that could total up to, or potentially in excess of, 60 centimetres by this weekend.

A large swath of the province is under snow squall warnings as of Thursday morning, forecasting some particularly nasty conditions that could blanket areas to the north, northwest and east of the GTA with over half a metre of snow on Thursday and Friday.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has issued several snow squall warnings for areas stretching up from the northern GTA to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, and east to Belleville.

Environment and Climate Change Canada

Lake effect snow will slam into the region Thursday and linger into Friday morning, accompanied by northwest winds that could gust up to 60 km/h and make for some dangerous conditions on roads due to blowing snow.

The government weather agency warns that areas could see hazards including “locally heavy snowfall with accumulations up to 60 cm,” as well as “poor visibility at times in heavy snow and blowing snow.”

ECCC says that “visibility will be suddenly reduced to near zero at times.”

“Rapidly accumulating snow will make travel difficult. Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow. Road closures are possible,” it adds.

The authority thus advises motorists to “consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve.”

Other areas of the GTA may not see conditions as severe as areas to the north and east, but some pockets of the region, like Oakville, are expected to receive total accumulations of 5 to 10 cm.

Along with this comes similar road safety risks, including reduced visibility in heavy snow.