A ferocious blizzard has dumped snow across Ontario and Quebec, creating hazardous driving conditions, grounding planes, and leading to at least one death.
An unidentified woman was killed near London, Ont., when she stopped on the shoulder of a highway to fix a windshield wiper on her van.
The woman's vehicle was struck by a snow plow, killing her instantly. Two passengers inside the van, related to the victim, were taken to hospital for shock.
Ontario Provincial Police reported over 400 minor accidents by Sunday afternoon as snow fell at about four centimetres an hour. The massive storm is expected to dump more than 40 centimetres of snow on Ontario and eastern Canada.
"It's a big one, a dangerous one," Environment Canada climatologist Dave Phillips told CTV Newsnet on Sunday. "Just because there's no whiteouts out your window right now, don't think it's a meteorological bust."
But people can expect poor visibility and treacherous driving, he said.
The storm, which originated in Texas, was just west of Cleveland, Ohio at 9 a.m. ET and is moving to the northeast, he said.
'When you look back in history and you see some of these Paul Bunyan snowfalls, they're very reminiscent of this particular type of storm," Phillips said, noting this already-moist air mass will pick more moisture up from the Great Lakes.
Flights cancelled
Airport officials said passengers throughout Central and Eastern Canada can expect delays and cancelled flights over the next two days. Air Canada said anyone who has a flight heading into or out of Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, or Halifax should check the status of flights before heading to the airport.
By Sunday afternoon, about 130 flights had been cancelled at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. At Montreal-Trudeau Airport, over 300 flights were cancelled and there were dozens of delays at Robert L. Stanfield Airport in Halifax.
Sandy Cooper-Chitoff, a passenger waiting to return to Ft. Lauderdale, was delayed for four hours at Trudeau Airport when she spoke to CTV News.
"I have to report to a job Monday morning, so I have to get out. There's no supervisors, there's nobody to help us," she said.
Weather warnings have been issued for an area of Ontario ranging from Windsor to Sudbury to North Bay and Ottawa, plus southern Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
"Significant blowing snow is expected to be a problem in all regions as strong northeast winds gusting to 70 or 80 km/h whip up the freshly fallen snow and cause whiteout conditions," Environment Canada said on its website.
Southwestern Ontario will experience the worst of the storm Sunday night as the system intensifies.
"The highest snowfall amounts may be around the west end of Lake Ontario into the Hamilton, Burlington and Niagara areas where very strong and cold northeasterly winds picking up extra moisture from Lake Ontario will help enhance snowfall amounts, with 30 to 40 cm quite possible by Sunday night," Environment Canada said.
Peter Noehammer, Director of Transportation Services for Toronto, told CTV News on Sunday that the city was prepared for the storm.
"We already started preparing on Friday, readying our crews and equipment," he said.
Preparation is made throughout the year, according to Noehammer, which includes mapping out routes for their equipment.
They plan to work on the city's local roads, which normally take the longest to clear, through Sunday night and again on Monday. Noehammer said they tried to "take a pass" on the side roads through the day in order to focus on the major arteries.
"We ask people to be patient," he said. "We will get to your street. It takes us about 18 hours to clear all of the local roads in Toronto."
Noehammer said transportation services is on target with the cleaning, and expects the main roads to be in good shape for Monday morning.
Storm hits Quebec
The winter blast moved into southwestern Quebec and into the Gaspe region Sunday, bringing between at least 30 centimetres of snow to the area.
So far, 1,000 workers and pieces of equipment have been utilized for clearing snow in Montreal, and about three times that number will be required for snow removal. How long that will take will depend on when the storm ends and how many parked cars have to be removed.
"It could be Monday night or Tuesday morning. It depends on the situation," Transport Quebec spokesperson Mario St. Pierre said.
The storm is expected to touch down in New Brunswick on Monday, with snow beginning ahead of the system on Sunday. Strong winds and blowing snow are expected for southern New Brunswick, which will receive 20 centimetres of snow and ice pellets near coastal regions.
Metro Halifax and the central mainland was expected to receive upwards of 15 centimetres of snow beginning Sunday afternoon that will change to ice pellets and rain by Sunday evening.
Winter officially starts next Saturday.
"Just because you have this one storm doesn't mean we're into the winter from hell, but my gosh, it's certainly started that way," Phillips said.
