Wintery Blast To Bring Northern Ontario’s First Significant Snowfall Between Wednesday and Friday With Up to 50cm of Accumulation Possible

A potential major snowstorm is on the horizon for parts of Northwestern Ontario over the next day as a strengthening low-pressure system stalls out and pumps moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the region. This combined with a push of cold Arctic air will allow from rapidly accumulating snowfall starting late Wednesday, continuing through Thursday and lingering into Friday. The heavy snow will also be accompanied by some very strong wind gusts which will result in blowing snow and near whiteout conditions out on the roads.

Conditions will begin to deteriorate starting Wednesday evening as the first bands of snowfall enter the region from Manitoba and Minnesota and slowly spread to the north and east throughout the overnight hours. The worst conditions will be found during the day on Thursday when the snow will be at its heaviest in addition to the wind starting to pick up. Travel will likely be near impossible on Thursday through the Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout and Armstrong area and we may even see some highways closures. This will continue overnight and into Friday will very rapid snowfall accumulation still occurring for much of the day on Friday too. We will finally see the system move out of the region by late Friday, but some snow may still continue especially near the Quebec border and around James Bay.

For accumulation, we’re looking at a maximum of around 30-50cm with locally in excess of 50cm. This zone includes the Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Fort Frances and Armstrong areas. Other locations such as Atikokan, Geraldton and Fort Hope will see slightly lower amounts topping out at between 20-30cm. As for Thunder Bay, they’re right on the mixing line and may see some rain mix into the wet flurries which will help stop much accumulation from occurring. Right now we’re saying 5-10cm although this may change depending on the track of the system.