A wind chill warning remains in effect Monday night following another day of bone-chilling cold and teeth-chattering wind chills over much of Ontario.
The January deep freeze continues to punish the GTA, where it felt like -25 Monday afternoon and will feel like -30 overnight. There is still a chance of additional flurries and the wind will continue to howl, with Environment Canada predicting gusts of up to 50 kilometres-per-hour.
An extreme cold weather alert issued by City of Toronto officials remains in effect to increase services for the homeless. Metro Hall is being used as a warming centre.
After the morning commute was brought to a crawl by flurries and powerful wind gusts, police are reminding motorists to reduce their speed, leave plenty of space between vehicles in case of a sudden stop, and depart earlier than normal because their commute may be slow and messy.
As people travelled to work Monday morning, dozens of collisions were reported across the GTA and GO Transit buses were delayed by up to 90 minutes.
In Toronto, police received a report of a collision every 4.5 minutes. By noon, about 125 crashes had been reported within the city.
The commute was a challenging affair for motorists because an Alberta clipper dumped as much as 10 centimetres of snow and visibility was reduced by blowing snow.
Snow squall warnings or watches were issued east of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, in northern York and Durham regions, and in the Kingston area.
The weather was so bad north of Barrie that snowplows were pulled off the roads in parts of Springwater Township due to whiteouts.
Airlines have issued travel advisories due to the weather and they are asking passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport. Delays or cancellations are possible at Pearson International Airport and Billy Bishop airport.
Frigid weather to stick around
The bitterly cold weather will persist Tuesday.
Environment Canada is predicting a high of -14 C and a wind chill of -32, along with powerful wind gusts.
Blowing snow may be a problem.
Normal temperatures for this time of year are highs of -2 C and lows of -10 C.
