Major snowstorm hits southwestern Ontario

Southwestern Ontario will see not one - but two - major snowstorms by the end of the weekend.

The first started Wednesday afternoon and was expected to continue into Thursday.

Environment Canada warned that much of the province could see significant snowfall. Waterloo Region and Guelph were expected to get 15 cm or more of the white stuff, with 2 to 4 cm falling per hour at its peak. The agency said that could transition to a mix of freezing rain and ice pellets near midnight.

“Precipitation may briefly change to rain early Thursday morning before changing back to snow and ending late Thursday morning,” Environment Canada explained.

Areas north and west of Waterloo Region could get as much as 25 cm or 30 cm of snow over the next few days.

The agency warned that road conditions may be hazardous, especially Wednesday evening and into Thursday morning.

Rob Kuhn, a severe weather meteorologist for Environment Canada, said people should remember it’s not just the snow they need to prepare for.

“Keep in mind, the snow may be mixed at times with ice pellets,” he told CTV News. “It will not be the light and fluffy kind that we had earlier this week. This stuff... will be a heavier and harder shovel for everybody.”

Parking bans

Snow events have been announced in Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo and Woolwich Township.

Residents were asked not to park on the road so snowplows had room to clear city streets. Any vehicles that were not moved could be ticketed and/or towed.

Kitchener’s parking ban was set to begin at 9 p.m., in Cambridge it was to start at 7 p.m. and in Waterloo, 11:59 p.m. In Woolwich Township, the parking ban was going into effect at 11:50 p.m.

A Significant Weather Event was also declared in the Region of Waterloo, Woolwich, Wilmot and Perth County.

Residents were urged to be cautious when travelling, as it could take longer than normal to clear regional roads and bike lanes.

“Plows will continue to operate, but the difficult weather conditions can mean road maintenance may take longer than usual,” John McClelland, Perth County’s executive director of public works, said in a media release. “County plows will operate until it is no longer safe to do so.”

All non-essential travel throughout the region was also discouraged.

Crews on standby

The City of Kitchener said this winter has been a busy one.

“This is our fifth snow event,” explained Roslyn Lusk, the city’s director of operations for roads and traffic. “To put that into perspective, last year we had two snow events.”

On Wednesday, staff, equipment and supplies were ready for a long night on the roads.

“We have 50 or 50-plus road maintenance vehicles that are being prepared for the full event,” said Lusk. “We have equipment to make sure that our equipment is all ready to go. Our salt domes are always stocked.”

Crews will try to clear main roads first before moving onto residential areas.

“The plan is to focus on our priority one roads and our priority two roads, which are the arterial roads,” Lusk explained. “We’re hoping to get them in good shape for the rush hour [Thursday] morning. Then, after the rush hour, we’ll be heading into the priority threes, or the residential roads.”

The City of Waterloo also has a plan.

“We want the roads clear for emergency vehicles to be able to have access, whether it be paramedics, police or fire,” said Nicole Papke, the director of municipal enforcement.

Preparing for the storm

Jim Gowing made sure he was ready for the storm ahead of time.

On Tuesday, he stopped at a Home Hardware store in Cambridge.

“[I’m] picking up salt, getting ready for the big weather event,” Gowing said. “We have some commercial property we have to look after, so it’s a liability issue.”

He told CTV News he tried going to two other stores before stopping by the Cambridge location, but salt was all sold out.

The Home Hardware store brought in close to a thousand salt bags on Tuesday morning to meet the expected demand.

“We recognized that there was going to be a shortage, and we took action on it,” said store owner Jeff Seydel, adding that shovels and snow blowers were also flying off the shelves.

Second storm

CTV’s Will Aiello said Waterloo Region will get even more snow over the weekend.

Between Saturday and Sunday, another 15 cm of the white stuff could fall.