The first major snowstorm of 2026 is here, and parts of the Greater Toronto Area could see as much as 35 centimetres of snow by day’s end.
Residents across the GTA woke up to large accumulations of the white stuff Thursday morning and most schools are closed as a result.
The entire region is under an orange-level snowfall warning issued by Environment Canada, which says the blowing snow could create reduced visibility at times.
CP24 Meteorologist Bill Coulter says the cold will add to the density of the snow on the ground, as today’s high will only reach -9 and feel like a bitterly cold -22 with the wind chill this morning.
“Because it is this cold it is less dense so you get double the snow that you would with the same moisture content,” he said.
Environment Canada says the snow will have a “significant impact” on rush hour traffic.
Here’s which areas snow plows across the GTA have covered:
Toronto
According to the city’s PlowTO Map, most of Toronto’s roads were serviced less than four hours ago, with some areas plowed between four and eight hours ago.
Sidewalks are a different story, with about half of the city’s walkways plowed less than four hours ago, and the other half more than four hours ago.
Click here to see when a crew has serviced your area.
Toronto snow plow tracker Mississauga
Mississauga’s Snow Plow Tracker shows that most of the city’s roads were serviced within the last six hours, although some areas appear to have been serviced more than 24 hours ago.
According to the map, the lion’s share of the city’s sidewalks remain unplowed and were serviced more than 12 hours ago.
Click here to get a status update on snow-clearing operations in Mississauga.
Mississauga snow clearing map Brampton
Brampton’s fleet of snow plows serviced most of the city’s streets within the last four hours, according to the city’s plow tracker. Some areas outside of the city’s major hubs were plowed with the last four to eight hours.
Most of the city’s sidewalks have not been cleared, according to the tracker.
Brampton’s snow tracker can be viewed here.
Brampton snow clearing map Markham
Most of Markham’s major roadways were serviced with the last hour, according to the town’s snow-clearing dashboard. Auxiliary routes appear to have been plowed between one and four hours ago.
Plows are on the sidewalks, but at time of writing it appears most have not been cleared.
Click here for a status update.
Markham snow map Richmond Hill
Most of the major routes in Richmond Hill were cleared within the last two hours, but many others are still covered in snow after they were plowed more than six hours ago.
Click here for an update.
Richmond Hill snow clearing map Vaughan
A number of roads in Vaughan are still waiting to be cleared, according to the city’s snow plow tracker. Roadways on either side of Highway 400 have not been serviced in serviced in more than 12 hours.
Plows are on the sidewalks, but at time of writing, no information is available as to when they were last serviced.
Click here to access the city’s plow tracker.
Vaughan snow plow tracker Pickering
Almost all of the streets in Pickering were plowed within the last eight hours, according to the city’s snow plow tracker.
Plows are currently clearing sidewalks, but most are still waiting to be serviced.
Pickering’s plow tracker can be found here.
Pickering snow map Ajax
Ajax’s snow plows are playing catchup Thursday morning, as their website shows most of the town’s street have not been cleared for more than 24 hours.
Check their snow plow tracker here.
Ajax snow plow priority map Blue streets were serviced within the last 24 hours. Red streets more than 24 hours ago. Whitby
Like Oshawa, the town of Whitby splits its road-clearing operations into categories, starting with primary, secondary, and tertiary routes.
It’s unclear how much of the town has been cleared at time of writing. Residents can click here to see which type of street they live on.
Whitby snow map Oshawa
Oshawa splits its roadways into priority 1 and priority 2 service levels. Priority 1 routes include the city’s major routes, while priority 2 includes more residential areas.
Priority 1 roads are cleared by the city within 12 hours after snow accumulation has ended. Priority 2 roads are cleared within 16 hours.
It’s unclear which roads or sidewalks have been plowed at this time.
Click here for more information.
Oshawa snow clearing priority map Oakville
Oakville’s snow plows have cleared most of the town’s streets as of 12 p.m. However, some residential streets are likely still covered in snow, according to the Oakville snow plow tracking website.
Click here for the latest update.
Oakville snow plow map Burlington
Burlington’s snow plow tracker shows that most, if not all, of its streets were plowed in the last 48 hours. It’s unclear how much snow remains on the ground after the roads were first serviced.
Click here for live updates.
Burlington
This is a developing news story. More details to come.