The first significant snowfall of the year, brought more than four dozen centimetres of the white stuff to parts of central Ontario.
According to Environment Canada, 51.4 centimetres or 20 inches of snow fell in the Coldwater area over a two day period. Meteorologists say 20.4 centimetres fell on Saturday, and an additional 31 centimetres on Sunday.
“We had some localized reports of those kinds of two day amounts in areas to the east of Lake Huron as well,” says Meteorologist Geoff Coulson. “Wasn’t widespread fortunately, but some folks who got hit by some good squalls on Sunday picked up some impressive amounts.”
The Barrie area saw about five centimetres fall, while Muskoka received 11 centimetres over the weekend.
Emergency crews had a busy Monday morning dealing with more than half a dozen crashes and vehicles that spun out into the ditch.
One of those crashes happened on Highway 11, where a car struck a hydro pole and snarled traffic. It was a similar scene on Highway 27, where a waste collection truck collided with a minivan.
Over the weekend, OPP say they responded to nearly 30 collisions since Saturday at midnight. No major injuries are reported.
“This last batch of snow the Orillia area received is very wet, slippery snow it packs down and becomes ice very quickly and drivers in some cases just are not aware that they may have to be stopping on a very slick surface and at some points they are not leaving enough space to do so,” says Const. Jim Edwards.
