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Residents in the Greater Toronto Area are digging themselves out and going back to their regular weekday schedules a day after a major snowstorm.
About two to four centimetres of snowfall is expected throughout the region, including Peel, York and Durham, according to Environment Canada. Flurries are forecasted to start in the afternoon and end close to midnight.
In Toronto, a high of -2 C is expected that will feel more like -13 due to wind chill.
The weather will be a reprieve for residents after the heavy snowstorm and frigid temperatures that hit on Thursday, which led Environment Canada to issue an orange level alert during the day.
About 22 centimetres of snow was recorded after the storm at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, said meterologist Monica Vaswani with Environment Canada on Thursday.
She said unofficial measurements by volunteers recorded 53 centimetres in north Scarborough, 45 centimetres in Markham, 37.4 centimetres at Downsview and 21 centimetres in downtown Toronto.
WATCH | Environment Canada changed snowfall warning from yellow to orange on Thursday:
Why wasn’t Environment Canada’s orange snowfall warning issued sooner?
An orange snowfall warning is in place for much of the Greater Toronto Area, including York, Durham and Peel regions. CBC’s Dwight Drummond spoke to Environment Canada’s senior climatologist to find out why the warning wasn’t issued sooner.Cars parked in snow routes will be towed: city manager
The city is still working to plow through the snow which measured from 20 to 30 centimetres in different areas, said Toronto city manager Paul Johnson on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning.
Yesterday’s storm was different “because it was so cold,” he said, meaning salt wasn’t able to activate at very low temperatures after being applied during road clearance.
But warmer temperatures Friday will mean salt should work better and clearance efforts will be ongoing with snow removal set to start over the weekend, said Johnson.
“We’re planning ourselves out differently this year,” he said, adding a major storm declaration made by the city Thursday allowed certain bylaws to be enacted, such as no parking on snow routes.
“I will say to Torontonians, don’t try it this year. We have higher fines. We also have a towing regime in place. We want to get those areas clear so that we can remove snow.”
Those operations could take several days due to ongoing weather conditions and “significant” snow accumulation, the city said in a Thursday news release.
It said seven warming centres remain open with additional daytime drop-in programs available with extended hours. City-run child care centres are open Friday and garbage collection will continue.
A Toronto parking ticket machine displayed a sign on Friday that parking was not permitted in the area due to snow removal efforts. (Clara Pasieka/CBC)Are schools opening back up?
Several colleges, universities and schools — with the exception of schools in the Durham region — shut down on Thursday because of the inclement weather. School districts across the region also cancelled bus service.
Elementary schools under the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, York Region District School Board and York Region Catholic District School Board are closed Friday due to a pre-planned Professional Activity day.
School districts in Peel and Durham are set to open back up on Friday, as there have been no posts on websites or on social media as of 6:25 a.m. about closures or cancellation of bus service.
But students reliant on school bus service in Durham and Peel may face challenges this morning, including:
University of Toronto’s Mississauga and Scarborough campuses posted on social media that it was returning to regularly scheduled classes. York University also updated its website that classes would resume as normal.
A woman ski tours on a sidewalk in Toronto’s east end during the snowstorm on Thursday. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)Transit delays ongoing due to snow clearance efforts
Transit lines in the city are still facing delays and closures due to ongoing efforts to remove the snow buildup from Thursday.
Line 6 was down again on Friday from Finch West to Humber College station due to snow clearing efforts, said TTC spokesperson Susan Nguyen.
Shuttle buses are running, but not servicing Driftwood, Tobermory and Sentinel stops because of a blocked roadway.
It came after the Finch West LRT was down twice on Thursday with the second outage lasting nearly 14 and a half hours straight.
WATCH | Finch West LRT struggles during snowy weather:
Finch LRT uses same switches as Ottawa’s plagued transit line
One of the major issues plaguing the Finch West LRT is the technology system used to melt ice and snow along the line. As CBC’s Dale Manucdoc explains, it’s the same system used by Ottawa years ago that proved to be problematic.
The TTC’s website lists 48 bus stops that remain out of service on Friday.
Metrolinx warned on its website that several GO bus routes could be cancelled or delayed due to operational adjustments.
Despite delays and cancellations on Thursday, there were fewer buses stuck in the snow “and fewer things go wrong” compared to the year before, said Johnson.
He credits part of that shift to pre-salting at stations and transit routes on Wednesday evening.
Toronto was covered under a blanket of snow ranging from 20 to 30 centimetres in different areas. (Jessica Wong/CBC)Pearson is back on track: NAV Canada
Air traffic at YYZ returned to normal levels as of 1 a.m. Friday, according to NAV Canada on social media.
However passengers are being advised to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport.