Snow continued to fall in the Ottawa area throughout the day Wednesday, but Environment Canada said it was expected to stop at some point late in the night.
“Snow ending after midnight, then cloudy with 60 per cent chance of flurries,” the weather agency said in a snowfall warning statement on its website at 5:29 p.m.
Ottawa had expected to be hit by between 15 and 20 centimetres of snow on Wednesday.
Environment Canada said there would be local blowing snow overnight, with about another five to 10 centimetres of snowfall possible in some areas. Winds were expected to be 30 km/h from the west, with gusts up to 50 km/h.
The strong winds, combined with the heavy snow, made driving conditions hazardous, and, at about 7 p.m., an Ottawa Paramedic Service spokesperson said crews had responded to “several collisions” throughout the day, although none involved life-threatening injuries.
Ottawa Fire Services posted on social media Wednesday afternoon that it had responded to a single-vehicle crash in the 7300 block of Snake Island Road at 11:37 a.m. A vehicle was found in a ditch, with the driver trapped inside “with multiple injuries,” the post said.
Specialized tools were used to extricate the driver, and at 12:33 p.m. they were safely removed from the vehicle on a backboard, the fire service said.
The East Region of the Ontario Provincial Police said in a social media post that it had responded to numerous collisions along Highway 417 due to heavy snowfall.
“Remember your winter driving lessons — slow down, leave space for extra brake time, and, if you don’t need to leave your residence, stay home,” the post stated. “Have extra patience for our city’s snowplow drivers and, remember, it is illegal to pass when there are 2 or more snowplows in echelon formation.”
Just before 9 p.m., the OPP said in a social media post that the 401 westbound at McConnell Avenue in Cornwall was fully closed, and that the 401 eastbound at Brookdale Avenue in Cornwall was “reduced in one left lane”. OPP and emergency crews were responding to multiple collisions, police said, and the public was asked to avoid the area and drive with caution.
According to Environment Canada, Thursday should be mainly cloudy with a 60 per cent chance of flurries and winds from the west at 20 km/h, gusting to 40 km/h. Temperature was to remain steady at about -9 C, but the windchill would make it feel more like -20.
Related
Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.
