As the holiday season in Toronto shifts into high gear on Saturday with the spectacular Cavalcade of Lights, a messy wintry weather brew of freezing rain, ice pellets and snow may be part of the show.
And on Sunday, there "will be a messy and high impact wintry system for much of southern and central Ontario, including across the Greater Toronto Area, where major impact on travel is expected," says Weather Network meteorologist Dr. Doug Gillham.
This weekend - which heralds the start of December, Advent, shopping sprees and outdoor skating - “a winter-like storm is expected to track into southern Ontario, thanks to an unusually powerful bomb cyclone that crashed into the west coast this week,” reports the forecasters at The Weather Network.
"Late Saturday night and early Sunday, freezing rain, ice pellets and snow will develop across our region [GTA] and continue into Sunday afternoon," says Gillham.
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Prepare for slick driving conditions with freezing rain. Or, better yet, take the TTC and GO.
Sounds like perfect weather for hitting Toronto and the GTA’s many Christmas markets and skating rinks or just staying home and watching the Leafs host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (the two teams played in Buffalo Friday) or the Raptors hosting the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
Or, you could enjoy Glow Gardens, which bills itself as one of the largest indoor Christmas festivals in the world. It opens this week at the Toronto Congress Centre.
Actually, this second Colorado low bringing this wintery storm into southern Ontario is the result, says the Weather Network, of “unusually powerful bomb cyclone that crashed into the west coast this week.”
"Many people across the Greater Toronto Area may be waking up to light snow on Sunday, but by the afternoon, the back edge of the snow should be east of the GTA as it continues through eastern parts of the province," says Weather Network meteorologist Nadine Hinds-Powell.
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It will also signal the start of a cold pattern that locks in for early December. That's good news for those who love outdoor winter activities, like skating at the new outdoor rink at Union Station.
The majority of the wet stuff is forecast to fall north and east of Toronto as snow with 5 to 10 cm of accumulation expected.
Areas to the west and south of Toronto , like Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton and Niagara, will mostly endure ice pellets and freezing rain.
Meanwhile the first Colorado system that prompted widespread warnings on Wednesday about rain snow and damaging winds was forecast to be gone from the Toronto area on Thursday.
