Environment Canada issues weather warning

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Snow, rain, wind and freezing temperatures. That’s what many people endured in the first weekend of the New Year, and it’s expected to get worse this evening. Environment Canada has issued a warning for freezing rain and snow squalls later this evening and into tomorrow morning  just as Ontarians head back to work and school.  Residents were getting a head start, especially after last year’s ice storm. “I heard the weather forecast, and I waited last year and it was too late” says a Hamilton resident. Stores like Canadian Tire say they are fully stocked for whatever mother nature has in store. Dennis Defreitas manager at Canadian Tire says that “regular salt, ice melters, environmentally friendly ice melters, we have sand, anything needed if we get an ice storm or any kind of ice.” While stores haven’t seen a mad rush of customers buying salt this afternoon Defreitas believes it will be a different story tomorrow. It’s been a disastrous weekend on Ontario highways. In the last 48 hours, OPP have responded to over 400 collisions. With icy road conditions on the way OPP are warning motorists to drive cautiously. OPP Sergeant Kerry Schmidt says that “We are expecting some flash freezing, slippery and icy road conditions which can cause a lot of problems for motorists and then tomorrow morning being a Monday morning back to school back to work for many people, it’s going to be heavy regardless, but icy roads can exacerbate that.” Sgt. Schmidt says most of the collisions are caused by motorists not adjusting to the road conditions. Many of the accidents, while minor, caused major delays and backups on Ontario roads.