Winter storm headed for southern Ontario, freezing rain on the way

Waterloo region residents are in for a harsh reminder of what Canadian winters can bring, as a Colorado low is expected to bring a storm to much of southern Ontario.

Environment Canada updated its weather warnings Wednesday morning for the Waterloo-Wellington area and says both heavy snow followed by freezing rain is on the way.

For the region and southern Wellington County, 5 to 15 cm of snow with ice pellets is expected in the late afternoon, followed by freezing rain in the evening that could create 5 to 10 mm of ice accretion.

Wind gusts between 50 km/h and 60km/h are also a possibility.

In northern Wellington County, 15 cm is expected with only light ice accretion possible.

Environment Canada says that a wintry mix of snow and ice pellets is expected across part of the province and precipitation may fall heavily at times, leading to hazardous winter travel conditions.

The alert said surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow and ice pellets.

There may be a significant impact on travel in the region.

On Tuesday, an update from Environment Canada said extended and widespread utility outages are possible.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hydro One said in a Tweet its crews are gearing up ahead of the freezing rain expected to hit the southern part of the province.

“Local road conditions may cause delays in our crews' response times,” the hydro company said in a Tweet.