Winter's return brings special weather statement for Toronto

After a long, mild autumn, wintry weather has arrived, bringing with it a special weather statement and warnings about snow flurries and icy roads for Toronto and a number of surrounding areas. Air Canada is also warning travellers that high winds could delay some flights.

Temperatures dipped below freezing overnight and many awoke this morning to see a dusting of snow. 

A special weather statement is in effect this morning covering Toronto and a number of surrounding areas including: 

• Barrie.
• Mississauga.
• Oshawa.
• Peterborough.

The weather statement says snow flurries off Georgian Bay are expected to continue today. Some areas could receive an additional two to five centimetres of snow by this evening. In the city, the forecast is calling for about one centimetre of snow.

"There is potential for roads to be locally icy today," the weather statement says. "This will likely result in a significant impact on both the morning and afternoon commute today."

The forecast for Toronto is calling for milder temperatures to return by mid-week, with Wednesday's high expected to be 7C with rain. 

Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said this is the time of year when drivers need to start preparing for fast-changing road conditions. 

"It's very windy, the conditions can change in a moment's notice," he said. "Drive safe, slow down, don't be in a hurry. If you take chances, your one moment of driving too fast for [winter] conditions is going to result in you being stuck and very much delayed."

This morning CBC Toronto spoke with driver Bob Interbartolo, who was travelling to Nobelton, Ont., from Toronto. 

He said road conditions are "not too bad as long as you take your time and just be safe.

"Especially the first couple of days of winter, with this snow, some people don't understand you have to slow down," he said.

Construction worker Martin Bazalar, also on the road this morning, agreed that drivers need to reduce their speed.

He said roads are "a little bit slippery" and added: "You have to drive slower. Very slow."

The city provided the following updates about its salting operations overnight. 

Meanwhile, Air Canada is warning that this morning's strong winds could delay some flights in Toronto.

Details are here on Air Canada's daily outlook, which mentions possible delays for travellers heading to and from some destinations, including Ottawa, Montreal, New York and Washington.