City
Jack Landau
Posted 3 months ago
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snow toronto

Basically everything shut down after record-breaking storm buries Toronto in snow

City
Jack Landau
Posted 3 months ago
Report Inaccuracy
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A historic winter storm buried Toronto in over a half-metre of snow on Sunday, Jan. 25, and just about everything in the city has shut down on Monday as the masses attempt to dig out from the largest seasonal dump in decades.

A total of 56 cm buried the city in what is being called the worst snowstorm to hit Toronto since the infamous blizzard of 1999, when then-mayor Mel Lastman famously called in the military to clear city streets — a move that earned the city lasting ridicule on a national level.

While we didn't have to call in the military this time, Sunday's snowstorm is already proving one for the history books, both in terms of the staggering snowfall totals and the impact it has had on schools, transit, roads, and events.

The City of Toronto enacted its Major Snow Event Response Plan for the second time this month, and while the response to clear roads has been swift in many areas, the storm has caused quite a bit of disruption.

Pearson Airport was absolutely buried in a whopping 46 cm on Sunday, resulting in dozens of delays and cancellations that have carried over to Monday morning. Pearson warned travellers on social media to check their flight status before departing for the airport.

The snowfall totals from Sunday eclipsed the record for single-day snowfall in January, and contributed to a record total snowfall for the month of January in the almost nine decades since record keeping began.

The heavy snow, poor visibility, and general dangerous conditions on roads and transit forced the cancellation of multiple concerts and events on Sunday evening, including a planned Jessie J concert at Danforth Music Hall.

For the second time in as many weeks, the Toronto Zoo closed to the public due to weather conditions on Sunday, and remains closed as of Monday.

Students in public schools were informed on Sunday night that Monday would be a snow day, while post-secondary institutions like the University of Toronto and Seneca Polytechnic also warned that a.m. classes would be cancelled as the city continues to dig out from the record snowfall.

Even if classes weren't cancelled, students would have a heck of a time getting around the city, as disruption remains for multiple transit routes during Monday's post-storm clean-up efforts.

It obviously goes without saying that the newly-opened and seemingly-cursed Line 6 Finch is among the downed transit routes on Monday morning — a recurring theme for the weeks-old light rail line that seems to shut down every time it snows.

But even the non-cursed TTC lines struggled through Monday's rush hour commute. Significant stretches of the TTC's Line 1 and 2 were taken out of service on Monday morning due to "weather conditions," and replaced with shuttle bus service that forced commuters to wait in temperatures that felt as cold as -23 C with the windchill.

Closures extend across the Greater Toronto Area, including Mississauga, where most City-run facilities were closed to start the work week.

No major snowfall is predicted for the coming days, giving Toronto a chance to dig out from the snow before the next major system arrives.

Lead photo by

Camillo Clauser/Shutterstock
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