kurby kurby kurby kurby kurby kurby kurby :sadwave:
It happens at least once every winter - a storm so fierce and so serious that you'll remember it for years to come and maybe one day tell your kids how you lived through it. Whether that happens to be the storm that's coming Sunday remains to be seen. But forecasters are calling this a major weather event with potentially serious consequences. Others just call it a good old fashioned nor'easter.
Whatever your name for it - printable or otherwise - the system that started deep in the heart of Texas is expected to strike right in the face of southern Ontario and leave few areas spared. We could get up to 25 centimetres of snow or more if it tracks the way experts think, potentially making it the biggest such one day snowfall in Ontario for the month of December since 1944.
The weather experts' one sentence prognostication speaks volumes: "25 centimetres in 24 hours." That's more than a centimetre an hour.
Current projections indicate it will start with snow late Saturday night, along with the possibility of some ice pellets or freezing rain, along with gusty and cold winds that will blow it all around and make driving more than just an adventure. There could be whiteouts in spots as the new day dawns and the wind chills will add to the misery.
Here's how it may play out on Sunday:
Midnight-8am: 5 cm of light snow.
8am-1pm: Heavy snow, two-plus centimetres an hour, for a total of at least 10 cm more.
1pm-9pm: The worst is over, but there will still be light snow with another 5 cm or more possible.
The city insists it's ready for anything. "We'll be monitoring it, tracking the storm, and ... we'll be preparing for the worst," explains Toronto Transportation's Peter Noehammer. "If it doesn't happen, we'll scale back. We'll be out with our salters to try to keep the roads clear and ice-free.
"If we do get into heavier amounts of snowfall, then we'll be addressing our main roads, the expressway and the arterials to keep them safe with additional salting, and more snow, with plowing. Then we get into the collectors or local streets."
But those 'local streets' could be clogged for a while. The city always does the main routes first and may not get to the side roads for 15-25 hours after the snow stops. "An additional 24 hours is often required to plow difficult areas where snow has not been completely cleared," warns its website.
The city is asking drivers to avoid parking their cars on the streets overnight. It could get in the way of plows, or even worse, the vehicles could be missed altogether if they're buried under a drift. And police are suggesting you keep off the roads if at all possible.
All of this means with just two weekends left before Christmas, you can expect the malls to be packed on Saturday before it all starts, and very long lines to appear in grocery stores as folks stock up for the expected siege.
Those heading out by plane are advised to check with their airlines - this same storm has created chaos in the U.S. and flights are expected to be delayed or cancelled as it hits.
Hard as it is to believe, we're only going to be getting a small part of the worst of it in the GTA. Hamilton and the Niagara region could be digging out from more than 30 centimetres.
All of it arrives with just two weeks to go before Christmas - and one week before winter actually starts
It happens at least once every winter - a storm so fierce and so serious that you'll remember it for years to come and maybe one day tell your kids how you lived through it. Whether that happens to be the storm that's coming Sunday remains to be seen. But forecasters are calling this a major weather event with potentially serious consequences. Others just call it a good old fashioned nor'easter.
Whatever your name for it - printable or otherwise - the system that started deep in the heart of Texas is expected to strike right in the face of southern Ontario and leave few areas spared. We could get up to 25 centimetres of snow or more if it tracks the way experts think, potentially making it the biggest such one day snowfall in Ontario for the month of December since 1944.
The weather experts' one sentence prognostication speaks volumes: "25 centimetres in 24 hours." That's more than a centimetre an hour.
Current projections indicate it will start with snow late Saturday night, along with the possibility of some ice pellets or freezing rain, along with gusty and cold winds that will blow it all around and make driving more than just an adventure. There could be whiteouts in spots as the new day dawns and the wind chills will add to the misery.
Here's how it may play out on Sunday:
Midnight-8am: 5 cm of light snow.
8am-1pm: Heavy snow, two-plus centimetres an hour, for a total of at least 10 cm more.
1pm-9pm: The worst is over, but there will still be light snow with another 5 cm or more possible.
The city insists it's ready for anything. "We'll be monitoring it, tracking the storm, and ... we'll be preparing for the worst," explains Toronto Transportation's Peter Noehammer. "If it doesn't happen, we'll scale back. We'll be out with our salters to try to keep the roads clear and ice-free.
"If we do get into heavier amounts of snowfall, then we'll be addressing our main roads, the expressway and the arterials to keep them safe with additional salting, and more snow, with plowing. Then we get into the collectors or local streets."
But those 'local streets' could be clogged for a while. The city always does the main routes first and may not get to the side roads for 15-25 hours after the snow stops. "An additional 24 hours is often required to plow difficult areas where snow has not been completely cleared," warns its website.
The city is asking drivers to avoid parking their cars on the streets overnight. It could get in the way of plows, or even worse, the vehicles could be missed altogether if they're buried under a drift. And police are suggesting you keep off the roads if at all possible.
All of this means with just two weekends left before Christmas, you can expect the malls to be packed on Saturday before it all starts, and very long lines to appear in grocery stores as folks stock up for the expected siege.
Those heading out by plane are advised to check with their airlines - this same storm has created chaos in the U.S. and flights are expected to be delayed or cancelled as it hits.
Hard as it is to believe, we're only going to be getting a small part of the worst of it in the GTA. Hamilton and the Niagara region could be digging out from more than 30 centimetres.
All of it arrives with just two weeks to go before Christmas - and one week before winter actually starts
