The extreme weather is being blamed for more than just cold fingers and toes.
Gas stations in parts of the GTA are dealing with shortages after heavy snow and arctic temperatures this week hampered delivery schedules.
The “cascading effect” began Monday, petroleum analyst Dan McTeague said, after a major winter storm bore down on much of southern Ontario.
Many tanker trucks tasked with delivering the fuel from one of two terminals in the region were cancelled or delayed as a result of the weather.
“It’s a big time logistical problem,” McTeague, with Gasbuddy.com, said.
“It started Monday night as roads became snarled up as delivery points and accesses at the terminals and of course at gas stations themselves became snow covered, it became very difficult for those truckers to continue making things happen in time.”
McTeague said efforts are underway to replenish affected stations, but there’s still a game of catch-up being played.
“They’ve been backed up ever since,” he said.
“It may take a few days to work out. But people shouldn’t panic. There’s plenty of gasoline out there, it’s just a question of the timing in delivery.”
McTeague said the issue was likely compounded by the unusually low prices. Gas prices fell 2 cents overnight and expected to fall another two cents tonight.
“We’ve had a decreased price of gasoline at historic levels – to 1.9, down to 89.9,” he said. “So a lot of people are taking advantage of it at the same time.”
McTeague is confident the stations will be back to normal by this time next week.
Customers, however, are a little unnerved.
“I am surprised. We take our infrastructure here for granted in Toronto, certainly in Canada,” one driver said. “It’s an unusual event.”
“I’m almost one-quarter there, empty,” another driver said. “I’ll have to go looking around.”
