Weary London, in southwestern Ontario, caught the worst of a blast of stormy weather that has been battering large parts of Canada this week.
From the West Coast, where 100 to 180 millimetres of rain was forecast for parts of British Columbia, to the north and Quebec where blizzard conditions were expected, to the Maritimes where residents are cleaning up after high winds and heavy rain caused major flooding Monday, Canada is waking up to a reminder that winter is here — even if the calendar says two weeks remain before its official arrival.
“It’s been a busy 48 hours,” Fontana said Tuesday.
The blast of lake effect snow centred on London “started Sunday night and then (Monday) was bad, today is bad and (Wednesday) doesn’t look any better,” he said.
It’s “as much as, practically, we had all of last winter. Every time we get some stuff cleared . . . we just get slammed again.”
[…]Elsewhere, up to 70 to 110 millimetres of rain was expected for Metro Vancouver, the Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast through Wednesday, according to Environment Canada.
Rainfall amounts of 100 to 180 millimetres were forecast for parts of Vancouver Island through Wednesday.
More than a 1,000 workers were out on Montreal streets Tuesday clearing snow following a storm that dumped 20 centimetres and was expected to add another five during the day with high winds blowing snow and making the cleanup more complicated.
Traffic was moving at a crawl on some highways and roadways in the Montreal region Tuesday morning.
High winds and blowing snow were keeping visibility low on the province’s highways, according to Transport Quebec spokesman Denis Arsenault.
In southern Quebec, wind mixed with snow was forecast to produce generalized blowing snow or blizzard conditions Tuesday, and a blizzard warning was in effect for Nunavut, where Eureka was the country’s coldest spot Tuesday morning, reaching a temperature of -42.4 C.
WINTERY KNIGHT 