Ontario’s snowbelt communities are gearing up for another burst of winterlike weather this week, with some areas facing the possibility of more than 50 centimetres of snow between Thursday and Friday.
According to a new report by The Weather Network, a “lake-effect machine” is set to “kick into high gear” on Thursday, leading to snow squalls across southern Ontario.
Depending on the location, some areas of the province could see anywhere from 15 to 50 centimetres of snowfall through Friday, which could lead to potential road closures and delays.
Communities located southeast of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay will be most affected by this week’s storm, especially parts of Highway 400 and south of Barrie. In these areas, 40 to 50 centimetres of snow is possible, and further out, Bradford, Aurora, Newmarket, and Uxbridge could see snowfall totals of between 10 and 30 centimetres.
The weather channel notes that snow squalls are “narrow bands of intense snow,” so while it might be sunny in one area, it might be a total whiteout in another.
While it might seem like Toronto has seen quite a bit of snow already, an Environment Canada spokesperson tells blogTO that the city has been “about on par with where it should be relative to normal,” when observing the 1991 to 2020 climatology.
However, look at December so far, the spokesperson noted that temperatures in Toronto have been “on the colder side,” adding that, “When we’re factoring in both max and min, we’re looking at about five degrees cooler overall compared to where the temperature should have been over that same 10-day period versus the climatology.”
According to a 60-day extended weather outlook from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, temperatures in southern Ontario in December will average approximately -6 degrees C, which is roughly 3 C colder than usual for the region.
