Blinding snow squalls, -20 wind chills make for treacherous conditions and travel in Ontario

Monday, January 5, 2015, 4:37 PM - A messy weekend has turned into a blisteringly cold week for Ontario. 

"Temperatures will be much colder for southern Ontario today," Weather Network meteorologist Kelly Sonnenburg said early Monday. "Yesterday, Pearson International Airport reached 4^oC. Today, we will be at -9^oC, feeling like -18 with the wind chill."

It's even worse in northern Ontario, where wind chill will make it feel like -20 and -30, with extreme cold warnings in effect.

These frigid temperatures will last through the week, but drivers Monday have had a more pressing problem: Snow squalls.

With little warm-up in sight, the added threat of blowing snow caused countless accidents on provincial roads.

Numerous highway closures due to collisions have sprung up during the day, including parts of the 401 and Highway 11. Near-zero visibility created by bands of snow have been reported by drivers and officials in the Barrie area.  

All lanes of Highway 11 were closed Monday afternoon after several crashes took place due to poor driving conditions.

The Weather Network's Kasia Bodurka was on the scene of a major pile-up involving multiple vehicles.

"Lake-effect squalls have set up over southern Ontario," Sonnenburg says. "Widespread snow squall watches and warnings are in place, including parts of the Greater Toronto Area. Snow squalls could oscillate a bit today, but models are in agreement of a dominant squall set up over the Barrie and Orillia area."

Weaker squalls will linger over southern Ontario, resulting in amounts of 2-5 cm for the GTA, up to 15 cm for the southwest, and more than 15 cm for areas on or near Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.

The first day back to school after the holiday break was met with mixed feelings on the winter blast -- several school bus cancellations were reported in the southwest. 

Power grids seem to be holding, with Hydro One reporting fewer than a thousand outages Monday afternoon.

As for air travel, and FlightAware was reporting only a handful of cancellations and delays, but Ontario airports were warning travellers to be prepared for weather-related delays if necessary.

For the cold, Environment Canada issued a special weather statement warning of the "coldest air of the season" in southern Ontario. In the City of Ottawa, where real temperatures won't rise above -10^oC until Friday, a frostbite warning is in effect.

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