Messy winter prompts winter weather travel advisory for Waterloo-Wellington

There is a winter travel advisory in effect for Waterloo region and Wellington County for Monday afternoon and evening.

The advisory from Environment Canada was issued Monday morning, upgraded from a special weather statement that was previously in place.

The storm is expected to hit southern Ontario by late Monday afternoon, bringing freezing rain and snow as it travels east towards Quebec and the Maritimes on Tuesday.

An updated alert sent out just after 1 p.m. said snow and ice pellet accumulation of around five centimetres is possible.

Peak snowfall rates of two to four centimetres per hour are expected, particularly during the evening commute.

The national weather agency is also advising of strong easterly winds gusting up to 70 km/h this afternoon and this evening.

DANGEROUS ROAD CONDITIONS

Reduced visibility is possible due to heavy and blowing snow and strong winds. Environment Canada said there may be power outages due to the gusts, and hazardous winter travel conditions are expected here in Ontario.

“Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions. Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. Take extra care when walking or driving in affected areas,” Environment Canada said in the advisory.

The system that is headed our way was also responsible for significant weather in the United States late Sunday night. Some damaging tornados moved through areas in northern Texas through Oklahoma.

In a video posted to Twitter at 4:19 p.m., Norfolk County OPP Const. Ed Sanchuk pleaded with drivers to slow down and drive according to weather conditions.

“Do me a favour – the snow is falling, the calls are coming in to the OPP – we need people to reduce their speed,” Sanchuk said from the scene of a single-vehicle roll-over outside Simcoe.

Police said the driver was not seriously injured.