Students walk to school despite frigid cold temperatures returning below zero. (Julie Arounlasy)
By: Julie Arounlasy
Toronto is experiencing another extreme cold weather alert as temperatures have dropped to below freezing Friday.
Peter Kimbell of Environment Canada told Humber News the freezing rain in Toronto is expected to turn into a few centimeters of snow later Friday, while temperatures will continue to fall leading to very icy road conditions.
Temperatures, along with freezing rain and snow, will keep falling until later Friday evening.
The extreme cold weather comes right after a week of warm temperatures in the city. Toronto reached a high of 12 C Thursday and into Friday morning.
https://humbernews.ca/another-messy-commute-ahead-flash-freeze-hits-gta/
The temperature is forecast to drop to –5 C Friday afternoon, with wind gusts of up to 60 km/h. Friday night’s low is forecast to hit –12 C.
“It was so warm earlier this week because we had a ridge of high pressure in the Atlantic pumping warm air up north across much of the United States and into Southern Ontario,” Kimbell said.
“The fact we’re having a cold front and going back to winter temperatures is actually quite normal.”
Kimbell also advised motorists to be extra cautious today.
“This is one of the days when very high vigilance will be required because we have both precipitations falling and temperatures falling rapidly through the zero degree mark,” he said. “So there are very dangerous conditions outside and motorists need to slow down and be very cautious.”
The drastic weather pattern has led to bus cancellations for:
- York Catholic District School Board
- York Region District School Board
- Durham District School Board
- Durham Catholic District School Board
Meanwhile, flooding from heavy rain Thursday closed the south end of the Don Valley Parkway for hours overnight, with lanes reopening early Friday morning.
The nearby Bayview extension was closed south of Dundas Street East, as firefighters helped motorists stranded in deep pools of water overnight. Shortly after 7:30 a.m., the city tweeted that Bayview had reopened.
As for other transportation delays, Toronto Pearson International Airport posted a travel advisory on their website warning passengers the winter weather may impact flight schedules and advised them to check their flight status before traveling to the airport. There have been 150 and counting cancelled flights so far Friday.
Stuart Green of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) said there are no bus or subway delays related to weather.
On Saturday, the precipitation will clear up, but the city is still expected to experience cold temperatures with a forecast high of –11 C.