'Absolutely crazy' snow squalls trigger whiteout conditions, crashes in parts of southern Ontario: OPP

CTV National News: Winter weather warnings Due to bitter cold weather conditions, there are winter weather warnings issued across parts of Canada. Kamil Karamali reports.

Snow squall warnings remain in effect for parts of southern Ontario as heavy snowfall resulted in multiple crashes and rollovers across the region on Thursday.

“It is absolutely crazy,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, who was near Barrie Thursday morning, told CP24. “You can barely see the tracks on the highways. Plows have been going through. We have tow trucks and police responding, there’s paramedics responding to calls everywhere we look at.”

The lake effect snow squalls hit the cities and towns surrounding Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay the hardest, with up to 60 centimetres of snow expected.

Barrie, Collingwood, Midland, and Wasaga Beach looked poised to get the worst of it, and the heavy snow blowing at gusts of up to 60 km/h in those areas is producing poor visibility and “treacherous” driving conditions, according to Schmidt.

“You can see, very often, a wall of snow as you’re driving down the highway and then all of sudden, you’re into it,” Schmidt said, noting that none of the crashes reported Thursday morning have resulted in any fatalities, injuries, or road closures so far.

“These streamers, they come through, and they just deposit that snow in a very localized area and that’s just another stark reminder for drivers to pay attention, be aware of changing road conditions,” he said.

Areas east of Toronto, including Cobourg and Peterborough, were also included in the warning as 25 cm of snow is expected to fall there over the next day.

West of the city, snow squall watches remain in place for for Kitchener and London, both of which could see up to 15 cm of snow. Winter weather travel advisories were also issued for Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon, and Halton Hills but have been lifted.

Environment Canada is forecasting that the lake effect snow will move south Friday morning before returning this weekend over some areas.

Toronto is currently not under any weather warning or advisory, but Thursday’s forecast is calling for a 70 per cent chance of flurries. The possibility of blowing snow in the city will continue overnight and into early next week.

At Toronto Pearson International Airport, crews could be seen clearing the runways following a light dusting of snow in Mississauga.

“Snowflakes are falling, but we're only expecting trace amounts of snow accumulation today. Currently, we aren't seeing any impact to operations,” the airport said in a tweet.

The high in Toronto will reach 1 C on Thursday and a low of – 3 C.