Toronto-area gets slammed with major snowstorm, weather alert upgraded

Environment Canada has upgraded its snowfall weather alert for the Greater Toronto Area after the region got hit with a major snow storm on Thursday. The weather agency initially classified it as a yellow alert, but upgraded it to an orange weather alert just before 8 a.m. An orange snowfall alert is in place for Toronto and the surrounding areas including Durham, Peel and southern York regions as well as Guelph, Kitchener and down towards Niagara. Environment Canada said snowfall amounts of 20-to-30 centimetres is expected for the area. Get daily National news Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy . It warns of reduced visibility and heavy snow as well as local blowing snow. The snow is expected to continue through the morning and taper off late Thursday afternoon. Temperatures also dropped significantly overnight reaching minus double digits. Toronto woke up to -22C with the wind chill on Thursday morning. “A low pressure system will continue to bring significant snowfall to much of southern Ontario. Very cold wind chills by this morning will add to the adverse weather conditions,” the weather agency said. It noted that non-essential travel should be avoided. Almost all schools in the Greater Toronto Area were closed to students and staff, with the exception of Durham region, due to the weather. Environment Canada has recently started using a colour-coded system to make it easier to understand the severity of extreme weather and any risks that people might need to know about. Orange alerts are issued when severe weather is likely to cause significant damage, disruption, or health impacts. Impacts can be major, widespread, and/or may last a few days. Yellow alerts are typically the most common and red alerts are rare. Ford government pausing its own affordable housing policy, calling it ‘red tape’ Trial begins for woman charged with murder of friend’s toddler inside CAS building Ontario town joins Toronto as latest community at risk of losing housing funding Winter storms: How much snow must fall for streets to be cleared

Preview: ~335 words