Freezing rain hits southern Ontario, with more wintry weather to come

Many residents in our area woke up Wednesday morning feeling the freeze, heeding the weather warnings of a storm from Environment Canada.

The worst of the freezing rain tapered off to a freezing drizzle into Wednesday evening, but it looks like there will be more rain and even snow this weekend.

The region went from an “orange” to a “yellow” warning earlier in the day, because the freezing rain did not last as long as expected, and accretion did not accumulate as forecasted.

However, this does not mean it was not dangerous to be outside, as the roads became very icy due to the freezing rain.

“A certain percentage of that falling freezing rain accretes or adds on to these various things, like branches and roadways, and actually forms ice on them,” said Geoff Coulson, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

This is why further warnings came from police to slow down and drive according to the weather, slower than the posted speed limit.

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said, “The OPP, since 5 o’clock this morning, we attended to about 160 collisions across the GTHA. We’ve got about 36-40 crashes on the go at this very moment.”

These dangerous outdoor conditions prompted a red delivery service alert from Canada Post for Waterdown — this meant no service or staff were dispatched to make deliveries in the area.

In Spencer Smith Park in Burlington, wind gusts with speeds of up to around 50 km/h, coupled with the freezing rain made moving around in the area pretty treacherous.

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Environment Canada warns that with increased ice accretion on things like railings and trees, along with increased winds, makes moving around the area and driving pretty dangerous.

“Ice accretion is basically the amount of ice that’s forming on objects as the freezing rain falls,” said Coulson.

Branches on trees were found with an extra layer of ice around it, with roads seeing much of the same.

According to the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) drivers were listening to warnings and staying off the roads.

“As of 1 p.m., our call volume was about 1,800 across our territory,” said Nadia Matos with the CAA for South Central Ontario. “So for an average winter day, we can see anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000.”

They suspect once this system passes, their calls will go up again.

They suggest planning ahead and having all light systems in the vehicle on, so other drivers on the road can see you.

According to Environment Canada, it looks like there’s another system moving through the area that will arrive on Friday, with some possible flurries on the weekend.

READ MORE: Messy mix of snow and freezing rain to hit Ontario: Environment Canada