Environment Canada’s wind warning for Toronto has concluded, but high winds and power outages persist across Ontario on Monday evening, with areas north of the city also preparing for snow squalls.
Newmarket, Georgina, and northern York Region are under a snow squall alert, as blizzard conditions are anticipated, according to Environment Canada on Monday evening. The regions are forecasted to receive 15 to 25 cm of snow, continuing until Wednesday afternoon and potentially exceeding 30 cm by Thursday morning.
Travel conditions are expected to be extremely dangerous, with visibility reduced to near zero at times, prompting Environment Canada to advise against non-essential travel.
As of 7:20 a.m. Tuesday, the Hydro One outage map indicated that just over 15,000 customers in the province were still without power following a storm system that brought strong winds, heavy precipitation, and plummeting temperatures. This is a decrease from about 50,000 customers on Monday morning, as stated by a Hydro One spokesperson.
Tiziana Baccega Rosa, speaking on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, mentioned that each outage has its estimated restoration time, subject to change as crews evaluate the damage. Customers in Orangeville and Guelph were significantly impacted as of Monday evening based on Hydro One’s map. Since the storm began on Sunday, Hydro One has restored power to over 88,000 customers, as per spokesperson Kaitlyn Forde.
Forde emphasized the challenging nature of being without power during the holidays and assured that crews are working diligently with contractors and local utility teams to restore power safely and swiftly. The damage has mainly been attributed to downed lines from ice accumulation, and outages may persist overnight due to ongoing high winds in certain parts of the province.
On Monday evening, 16% of departures from Toronto Pearson Airport were facing delays, and 12% were canceled, according to the airport’s website. Pearson spokesperson Stacy Voudouris attributed the higher-than-normal delays to various factors, including weather conditions and the significant volume of travelers on Monday.
Hanna Ovsenek shared her experience at the airport, mentioning her delayed connecting flight to New Zealand but remaining optimistic about making her connection later in the day. Ovsenek expressed concern for individuals rushing to reach their destinations amidst the delays.
The evolving winter weather conditions in Ontario and Quebec, impacting travel and causing flight cancellations, are part of a storm system moving towards the East Coast, bringing a mix of rain, snow, and ice.