Dangerous U.S. winter storm hits Ontario

TORONTO – A dangerous winter storm system that pounded parts of the U.S. and claimed the lives of six people Wednesday was headed toward parts of Ontario and Quebec on Wednesday night.

Environment Canada said much of Ontario would be hit with a dump of snow that had already started falling by the late afternoon, as the outer reaches of a snow system making its way north from Kentucky crossed into southwestern Ontario.

Meteorologist Arnold Ashton said the system would then move east and eventually deliver snow to parts of southern Quebec and New Brunswick on Thursday.

“It’s the combination of snow and blowing snow that makes this particularly nasty,” Ashton said.

In parts of the U.S., hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed, scores of motorists got stuck on icy roads or slid into drifts, and blizzard warnings were issued amid snowy gusts of 50 kilometres an hour that blanketed roads and windshields, at times causing whiteout conditions.

The system, which spawned Gulf Coast region tornadoes on Christmas Day, pushed through the Upper Ohio Valley and headed toward the Northeast.

In Ontario, the storm sent air travellers in Toronto scrambling for the second day in a row as scheduled flights were scrapped over the impending storm. Toronto’s Pearson International Airport delayed or cancelled more than 100 incoming and outgoing flights to Canada and the U.S.

Environment Canada said parts of southwestern Ontario and the stretch between Kingston and Cornwall in the east would bear the worst of the storm, getting 15 to 20 centimetres of snow.

Central Ontario residents should get their snow shovels ready for five to 10 centimetres.

Ashton said the Greater Toronto Area was set for the most snow it’s seen since 2010.