Ontario woke up to its first blanketing of snow of the season with up to 15 cm

Areas of Ontario were indeed walloped with as much as 15 centimetres of snow overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning as predicted, giving the province its first true taste of the snowy winter ahead.

Trick-or-treaters in Ontario's snowbelt regions got a rude surprise to close out October as snow began to pummel areas of the province on Halloween night.

Heavy snowfall interrupted trick-or-treating in areas like Kingston and Belleville.

Snow 🌨️#ygk #ygkwx #snow #onstorm pic.twitter.com/20N9XSugAQ

— Steve Coville (@SteveCoville) November 1, 2023

The sudden snowfall also made for some harrowing conditions on highways around the province.

Pretty heavy snow on 401 near Belleville @AnthonyFarnell pic.twitter.com/2WsalrMEFY

— Ryan Rocca (@ryan_rocca) October 31, 2023

By the late evening hours, places like Kingston had been transformed into winter wonderlands to close out the spooky season.

From earlier tonight in Kingston: October going out like a lion. #ygk #onstorm pic.twitter.com/tvsMdJzmG2

— Dawna Street🌞⛈ (@ygk_sky) November 1, 2023

Some of the strongest snowfall was recorded in Strathroy, which is reported to have hit — and possibly exceeded — the 15-centimetre mark.

I woke up to this. Yes!! #Strathroy got slammed! #onstorm #onwx pic.twitter.com/B4u6cpRqrT

— Cara Bissonnette🇨🇦 (@CaraLBiss) November 1, 2023

One Tuesday evening report even predicted 20 cm for this part of the province.

Lots of snowfall accumulations along the Lake Huron snowbelts at the moment from lake affect snowsqualls. Winds will shift within an hour or two and areas around Grand Bend, Pinery, Kettle Point, Parkhill, and even over towards Strathroy could see upwards of 20 cm. #ONStorm #ONwx pic.twitter.com/pIFtf5mfc1

— WeatherCAN (@1Weathercanada) October 31, 2023

Strathroy residents will likely spend the day digging out after the area was blanketed overnight.

Yup, based on what is on the deck table, it looks like we got about 4 or 5 inches in Strathroy-Caradoc.🤷‍♂️
Longwoods Road looks bare, but could be slippery, particularly for those of us who don’t have our Winter tires on yet. pic.twitter.com/cHEmwGG1lO

— Mark Carruthers (@MarkC_Avgi) November 1, 2023

The Greater Toronto Area was spared from this preview of winter for 2023-24, though the GTA region did indeed wake up to frosty conditions with temperatures feeling in the high negative single digits to kick off the first day of November.