Barrie residents dig out from overnight winter storm

Friday's winter storm left residents digging out across Simcoe County on Saturday.

 The storm struck around 6 p.m., bringing thunder, lightning, and snow.

Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips said the last ten days had seen almost half a winter's snow.

"The snow was very wet and very heavy. It's like shovelling concrete when it's that wet, and we also saw because the snow is very sticky, it's adhering to wires and trees, and so we see a few power outages," Phillips said.

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He adds that milder temperatures with high moisture likely contributed to this unusual thundersnow weather event.

"The visibilities were cut down to almost white knuckling driving conditions because of the winds. I saw winds up to over 80 kilometres per hour," Philips added.

Simcoe County saw roughly 20 centimetres of snow, while the GTA got almost 30 centimetres.

Experts define this storm as a blizzard rather than a straight snowfall.

The City of Barrie said it would have all of its residential snow plows operating Saturday night at midnight for additional cleanup.