Snow Squalls To Bring Up to 20cm of Snow to Areas East of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay Between Thursday Evening and Friday Morning

Colder air returns to Southern Ontario after a brief shot of mild weather which has resulted in the development of lake effect snow late Thursday and is expected to further intensify into squalls by the evening.

The focus of these squalls will be on a zone east of Georgian Bay with the heaviest accumulation in locations such as Parry Sound, Port Carling, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and Miden. There will also be some less organized squalls off Lake Huron with higher amounts further inland over the Hanover, Minto, Wingham and Listowel area. Total accumulation could approach the 20cm mark locally with general amounts around 10-15cm.

Those closer to the shoreline will see lower amounts due to temperatures staying above the freezing mark which will mean the snow will struggle to accumulate. The lake effect activity will drift southward during the morning on Friday bringing the heavy snow to locations such as Collingwood, Wasaga, Angus, Goderich and Stratford. However, the squalls won’t last long until fizzling out by the afternoon hours so accumulation should be limited to around 5cm with maybe some localized pockets picking up to 10cm.

Snow squalls can cause quite dangerous driving conditions through the affected regions with near-zero visibility and rapid snowfall accumulation. It is highly recommended that you avoid travel during the evening and overnight hours if you can. Otherwise please leave lots of time to get to your destination safely! The morning commute will likely be impacted, but conditions should be a little better than compared to the overnight hours. School bus cancellations are possible Friday morning which we will cover in our snow day forecast to be issued Thursday evening.