School buses and more cancelled by snow, freezing rain

Up to 20 centimetres of snow in Ottawa and freezing rain expected across most of eastern Ontario prompted school transportation authorities to issue cancellations, Wednesday.

Snow began falling overnight in the capital and by 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, about 15 centimetres was on the ground in southeast Ottawa.

“Looks like mainly a snow event for Ottawa, pretty much all day,” said Jill Taylor, 1310 NEWS meteorologist. “Ten to 15 centimetres of snow today, and when you consider the snow that we had overnight, by the time all is said and done some areas could be close to 20 centimetres of snow.”

The snow is expected to fall through both morning and afternoon commute periods. Road-clearing crews were out overnight, but the intensity of the snowfall has made their job more difficult.

“When you've got fairly intense snow like we're seeing right now…it just covers over the salt and the salt loses its effectiveness,” said Luc Gagne, road services manager, City of Ottawa. “But from a temperature perspective, it's right on.”

Earlier in the week, temperatures were so cold that salt stopped working to melt snow and ice. Salt loses its effectiveness below minus-18 Celsius.

As the snow changes to rain, Wednesday evening, the likelihood of freezing rain prompted Environment Canada to issue a freezing rain warning for Ottawa-Gatineau and most of eastern Ontario. That was later upgraded to a winter storm warning.

=================================================

SCHOOLS/SCHOOL BUSES:

All Ottawa school buses have been cancelled today. Schools are open.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has cancelled all sporting events today as well as all evening events, like the board's kindergarten information nights, the parent strategic plan focus group and all Community Use of Schools and Continuing Education activities. 

Ottawa Catholic School Board high school exams scheduled for today will be written tomorrow (Thursday), with all other exams pushed back by one day.

All school buses in Renfrew County have been cancelled. Schools remain open.

School buses have been cancelled for areas served by the Upper Canada District School Board and Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario. Schools are open.

Redeemer Christian High School is closed today. Exams scheduled for today will be written tomorrow (Thursday).

TRANSIT:

OC Transpo says there are major delays on most routes and on Para Transpo because of the snow, and that it is seeing a high number of bus cancellations. Click here for live transit updates.

Transportation for the Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities — Special Runs & Quinlan Centre — has been cancelled for today.

TRAVEL & TRANSPORTATION:

Some flights to and from Toronto have been cancelled. Check your flight's status here:

– Ottawa airport arrival delays

– Ottawa airport departure delays

VIA RAIL:

No issues have been reported. Click here to check your train's status.

POWER OUTAGES:

No issues to report at this time.

GOVERNMENT:

No updates at this time.

OTHER:

No updates at this time.