The weather outside is frightful — and it’s about to get worse in many parts of Canada | 24CA News
There’s no place like house for the vacations, however in giant swaths of Canada and the U.S., getting there might be difficult amid a spate of climate warnings.
A storm and excessive chilly in Western Canada has grounded lots of of flights in Vancouver, Victoria and Calgary, and Environment Canada is saying to keep away from any journey, if potential, in giant parts of Ontario and Quebec as a winter storm approaches.
The Environment Canada warning map is lit up like a Christmas tree, filled with reds and yellows. In the United States, the identical climate techniques are anticipated to trigger energy outages and journey chaos.
All advised, thousands and thousands of individuals in each nations might have their journey or celebration plans affected through the vacation weekend.
More snow on the way in which for already hobbled B.C.
Environment Canada says a “significant winter storm” is anticipated for British Columbia’s south coast on Thursday evening, with heavy winds and snow for Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the Fraser Valley.
On Thursday afternoon, Vancouver International Airport warned of extra cancellations, delays and congestion for Friday. The airport was nonetheless coping with a backlog of stranded passengers — and lacking baggage — from a storm earlier this week.
B.C. Transit stated it might be suspending service in Victoria starting at 12 a.m. on Friday, whereas B.C. Ferries additionally confronted disruptions because of the freezing climate.
Matt Leger, who was stranded on the Vancouver airport making an attempt to get to Tampa, Fla. — and who was nonetheless caught in Seattle on Thursday morning — advised 24CA News Network that he wasn’t in a position to communicate to a consultant on the airport or by telephone.
“I was just sort of left in limbo, not knowing when my next flight will be.”
Eventually he reached somebody with the airline, who advised him he’d both want to attend till Christmas or fly to Orlando, a couple of 135-kilometre drive from Tampa.
Other travellers confronted related challenges, together with delayed and cancelled flights, and lengthy waits at the airport.
Thousands of passengers attempting to achieve their households or a trip vacation spot for the vacations have been met with repeated delays or flight cancellations as winter climate hobbles Vancouver International Airport.
Vancouver International Airport’s president and CEO, Tamara Vrooman, stated classes have been realized this week.
“It is the worst timing to have this kind of snow event right at the holidays. We apologize. We feel for passengers.
“This is just not how we need to spend our time as an airport serving them, however we now have made the changes. It is enhancing, and we hope that we’ll have the ability to get extra passengers related to the place they need to go.”
Vancouver International Airport’s president and CEO, Tamara Vrooman, says delays are still likely through the Christmas weekend as the airport recovers from a snowstorm earlier in the week.
Consider postponing gatherings until Sunday, Ontarians told
In Ontario, the weather agency has placed most of the province under a warning or watch ahead of a major winter storm expected Friday and into the holiday weekend. Several school boards in the province, including the Toronto District School Board, have cancelled school on Friday.
Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is also bracing for the incoming storm.
Steven Flisfeder, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said damaging winds, possible flash-freezes and blizzard-like conditions will make for difficult driving.
If you plan to travel for holiday get-togethers, aim to arrive before the worst of the storm or try to postpone gatherings to Sunday, he said.
Until then, “take this time forward of the storm to arrange for the situations that might be coming,” Flisfeder said. “It’s at all times greatest to be ready, in order that you do not have to scramble when the storm truly approaches.”
In Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, the agency is calling for up to 15 centimetres of snow by Friday and possible 90 km/h wind gusts. In other parts of southern Ontario, overnight rain combined with plummeting temperatures into Friday could result in flash-freezing conditions.
Starting Friday, Environment Canada says a “crippling blizzard” could hit parts of southwestern Ontario, including Niagara Region and Owen Sound, bringing wind gusts up to 120 km/h and 15 to 30 centimetres of snow by Sunday. Niagara Region also issued a flood alert for Lake Erie.
In Quebec, people are being told to prepare emergency kits that can help sustain them for up to 72 hours without power, with a mix of heavy snow, rain and strong winds expected from Thursday night in much of the province.
Meteorologist Jean-Philippe Begin says Quebecers should prepare for the possibility of blackouts “for extended durations.”
C-c-c-cold elsewhere
In other parts of Canada, the hits just keep on coming:
In Newfoundland and Labrador, a special weather statement says a winter storm is expected on Saturday.
Prince Edward Island will face heavy rain and strong wind gusts beginning Friday afternoon. The weather could disrupt travel plans on Friday evening and Christmas Eve morning, with power outages also possible.
Officials are urging Nova Scotians to plan ahead for the holiday weekend, with a storm expected to hit western parts of the province on Friday afternoon, moving through to Cape Breton by Saturday morning.
In New Brunswick, snow, heavy rain, ice pellets, strong winds and a possible storm surge are expected Friday afternoon.
Most regions of southern Manitoba and the province’s far north are under extreme cold warnings for Thursday evening, with wind chill values expected to approach –40 C in Winnipeg.
In Alberta, heavy snowfall, blowing winds and freezing rain are expected from Saturday evening into Sunday morning, before the province thaws out next week.
Extreme cold warnings were also in effect for Yukon and parts of the N.W.T. and Saskatchewan.
Few escape options
Drivers were urged to stay off the roads during bad weather, but if people have to head out, they should take extra precautions, including planning ahead and ensuring they have good snow tires, the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) says.
Motorists should also keep an emergency roadside kit in their vehicle, as well as some sand or salt, and ensure their phone is fully charged, says Julie Beun, CAA’s director of communications for eastern and northern Ontario.
Any snowbirds who were hoping to outrun winter this Christmas are also out of luck. In much of the U.S., the Christmas weekend could be the coldest in decades. There are wind chill warnings in 30 states.
The sub-zero temperatures affecting Canada are also expected to stretch deep into the U.S.; places with names like Inland Citrus, Fla., and Sweetwater, Texas, are being warned of freezing temperatures.
The U.S. National Weather Service is warning that the winter storm will bring “probably crippling impacts” to the central and eastern U.S., with record-breaking cold and “life-threatening wind chill” over the Great Plains and the eastern half of the country on Friday.
The storm hitting the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Interior Northeast regions will “result in harmful, to at instances not possible, land and air journey main as much as the vacation weekend,” a statement from the service said.
A powerful winter storm is making its way through the U.S. and Canada, bringing with it severe snow and freezing temperatures. The storm has already disrupted travel for many ahead of the holidays.
Michigan State Police prepared to deploy additional troopers to help motorists. And along Interstate 90 in northern Indiana, crews worked to clear as much as 30 centimetres of snow. About 150 members of the National Guard have been deployed to help snow-bound Indiana travellers.
More than 4,400 flights within, into or out of the U.S. had been cancelled for Thursday and Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware, while Amtrak cancelled dozens of passenger trains through Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for tens of thousands of people.
Another 8,450 flights were delayed Thursday.
