Toronto winter storm: up to 35 cm of snow possible, 56 TTC bus stops out of service

TTC spokesperson Adrian Grundy discusses the transit agency's plan to keep riders moving during this weekend's winter storm.

Just days after recording its largest single snowfall since January 2022, Toronto, still digging out from under centimetres of snow, is being hit by another winter storm, prompting the TTC to remove 56 bus stops out of service and several tourist attractions to close on Sunday.

The city and the rest of southern Ontario are under a winter storm warning as Environment Canada says a potent low-pressure system will bring another “highly impactful winter storm” to the region.

Toronto was set to get up to 10 centimetres of snow on Saturday and another 15 to 25 centimetres on Sunday.

“Conditions will rapidly deteriorate Sunday morning as a more significant area of snow and blowing snow arrives,” Environment Canada said, noting that the region could see peak snowfall rates of three to six centimetres per hour.

“Travel will be hazardous and is not recommended, particularly on Sunday. Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations.”

The daytime high for Sunday will be -4 C with a wind chill near -14.

The federal agency noted that areas over the Niagara Escarpment and Dundalk Highlands could see higher snowfall accumulation.

Crews will be ‘plowing for days’: Toronto official

With the more than 20 centimetres of snow dumped in downtown Toronto earlier this week, the additional 35 centimetres this weekend will see city crews “plowing for days,” said Vince Sferrazza, the City of Toronto’s director of operations and maintenance.

“This is going to be one of those events where we will have to visit all the roads, all of the cycling infrastructure and sidewalks multiple times,” Sferrazza said in an interview with CP24. “So, they’ll be servicing all of the infrastructure throughout the weekend and into the early week.”

He noted that the city plans to transition to snow removal sometime next week due to the significant accumulation. Sferrazza said snow will be taken off the roads and transported to one of the city’s snow dumps, which were last used in 2022.

He reminded Torontonians that the city’s declaration of a major snow condition is still in effect, which means parking on designated snow routes is prohibited.

Sferrazza added that pushing snow onto the roads violates the city’s bylaw.

“The other thing that we ask all the residents and businesses: please do not push any of the snow from your property onto the roads. We clear the roads, clear the cycling. Many times, we’ve had to go back because there has been some snow pushed off from the property adjacent to the road or the sidewalk. And that takes up a lot of our time. It does take extra costs,” he said.

How will transit be impacted?

The TTC has said that they are implementing mitigation plans and bringing in extra employees and maintenance vehicles to deal with the snow.

Adrian Grundy, senior communications advisor for the TTC, shared the agency’s plan ahead of Sunday’s snow. He said the TTC will be running storm trains after service ends to keep tracks free of snow and ice. Subway trains will also be stored underground instead of in the yards.

Grundy said crews are clearing snow and ice to ensure the streetcar overhead power is working.

On Saturday night, the TTC posted a service alert on its website that customers will experience longer than normal travel time on all streetcar routes due to weather conditions and multiple vehicles stuck in snow.

As for the 56 bus stops, which are mainly located in hilly areas, they are expected to remain out of service until Sunday evening.

“This is all about safety. It’s sometimes unsafe for a bus to come to a stop. It’s unsafe for the operator, and it’s particularly unsafe for customers,” Grundy told CP24.

“We certainly can’t have customers attempting to get on a bus that can’t make a full stop. So we do avoid those stops.”

For GO transit customers, Metrolinx also confirmed they were modifying their weekend schedule and deploying four additional trains for the Kitchener line.

Lakeshore West and East lines will also run every 30 minutes throughout the long weekend. Officials noted that the Stouffville and Barrie lines, as well as the UP Express, are not expected to have any changes.

Some Toronto tourist attractions to close on Sunday

The Toronto Zoo has announced that it will be closed on Sunday due to the heavy snow. The zoo also closed its doors to the public earlier this week for the same reason.

“Once again, your zoo is taking this proactive step for the safety and well-being of the animals, staff, volunteers and guests,” the zoo said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will also be closed on Sunday due to the weather. Those who bought tickets, they will automatically refunded and credited within five business days, ROM says.

The Art Gallery Ontario and the Aga Khan Museum will also not be open because of the winter storm.

All four tourist attractions say they will reopen on Monday for Family Day.

Delays and cancellations at Pearson airport

Meanwhile, several flights have been delayed and cancelled at Toronto Pearson International Airport due to the weather.

Erica Vella, a spokesperson for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said they’ve been preparing for the storm for several days.

“As soon as that snow came down, we sent out crews. We deployed our crews to begin that snow-clearing operation,” Vella said, noting that three centimetres of snow had fallen at Pearson as of 3:30 p.m.

“Our crews have been incredibly busy, but we’re absolutely ready to make sure that we are able to move aircraft when it is safe to do so.”

She advises passengers to check their flight status before coming to the airport.

“We are absolutely ready to handle this latest blast of winter weather. It’s been definitely a long week when it comes to these snow events that we have seen,” Vella said.