'Messy mix' of winter weather headed for Toronto: Environment Canada

A man rides his bike along Queen Street West as snow falls in Toronto on Sunday, November 22, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carlos Osorio

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Toronto and surrounding areas ahead of a low pressure system that’s expected to bring a “messy mix of wintry precipitation” to the city.

The rain will start falling late Wednesday and could total 25 millimetres before potentially transitioning into ice pellets and freezing rain by Thursday afternoon, the weather agency said in a statement issued Tuesday.

Snowfall is expected to start falling Thursday evening and total four to eight centimetres by Friday, before the system tapers off later that morning.

“A low pressure system is expected to track northeast across Lake Erie and Lake Ontario Thursday night which could bring a messy mix of wintry precipitation to southern Ontario,” Environment Canada said.

The agency warns that road closures are possible and that utility outages may occur in affected areas, which also include parts of York Region, Peel Region, and Hamilton.

The Greater Toronto Area was largely spared from what Environment Canada described as a 'multi-day snow event' that was expected to hit earlier this month.

That was not the case in mid-January when Toronto and parts of Ontario were on the receiving end of a historic snowfall that left much of the city in a standstill.

Temperatures in Toronto are expected climb to a high of eight degrees Celsius on Wednesday before they dip to -11 degrees Celsius on Friday morning.