Slightly delayed, but things this afternoon do look very good for a good snowfall event around here. Being in the City of Hamilton area, we are just to the west of the current warning criteria issued here by EC for Niagara to St.Catharine's/Grimsby - http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/warnings/report_e.html?on17.

For the rest of the GTA and Golden Horseshoe, we have the special advisory :

Special weather statement
Updated by Environment Canada
At 11:07 AM EST Wednesday 26 December 2012.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Special weather statement for:
      City of Toronto
      Windsor - Essex - Chatham-Kent
      Sarnia - Lambton
      Elgin
      London - Middlesex
      Simcoe - Delhi - Norfolk
      Oxford - Brant
      City of Hamilton
      Halton - Peel
      York - Durham
      Huron - Perth
      Waterloo - Wellington
      Dufferin - Innisfil
      Belleville - Quinte - Northumberland
      Peterborough - Kawartha Lakes
      Stirling - Tweed - South Frontenac
      Bancroft - Bon Echo Park
      City of Ottawa
      Gatineau
      Prescott and Russell
      Smiths Falls - Lanark - Sharbot Lake.

A dangerous winter storm about to affect Southern and Eastern
Ontario.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
==discussion==
An intense winter storm centred over Kentucky will track well south
of the Lower Great Lakes today. Although Southern Ontario will be on
the northern portion of the large snow area associated with the
storm, significant snowfall amounts are expected for a good portion
of the region. The most serious snow and near-blizzard conditions are
expected in New York State and Ohio where winter storm and blizzard
warnings are in effect and will impact travellers driving south over
the holidays.

Snow is now getting underway over Southwestern Ontario and it will
spread eastward to reach Eastern Ontario this evening or overnight.
Conditions will improve from west to east on Thursday.

Highest snow amounts over Ontario are expected over Dunnville,
Niagara, and from Kingston to Cornwall with 15 to 20 cm or more and
very poor visibilities in blowing snow. Hence winter storm warnings
are in effect for these areas.

Areas from Windsor to Simcoe and Hamilton, and from Cobourg to Smiths
Falls and Ottawa are expected to see 10 to 15 cm of snow with this
event.

Further north, from Sarnia to Kitchener to Toronto to Bon Echo Park
to Renfrew, snowfall amounts will likely be in the 5 to 10 cm range.
The reason why more snow is not expected in this swath is the shorter
duration of snow on the outer fringe of the snow area.

Impacts will be significant for travellers. It is a widespread event
and many regions have not experienced a significant snow event for
some time. The falling snow combined with northeast winds to 50 or
60 km/h will create fairly widespread blowing snow and poor
visibilities. This will be especially true in the Niagara region
where snowfall amounts will likely be highest. Also, holiday rush
hour Thursday morning may be problematic since much of the snow will
have fallen tonight.

The public is advised to monitor future forecasts as warnings may be
extended.

Please monitor the latest forecasts and warnings from Environment
Canada at www.weatheroffice.gc.ca.

Latest on TWN is for 15-25cm from just west of here through the Niagara Pennisula, which would be warning critera. This prob will be academic as anytime you get gusting past 50kph, 500mtrs vis and blowing snow it won't matter how bad or deep it will get, it is already extremely dangerous conditions. And, i think the big story from this storm will be how Ontarions deal with it in the morning, it has been quite a while since there has been widespread snowfall across the GTA and obviously due to the holidays, traffic and train travel will be lighter but there will be disruption from this no doubt.

Follow the system moving in on the king city radar, circling the Hamilton area almost right now :http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=WKR.

And, below is the MTO camera set at Burlington St. on the Eastern approaches to the Burlington/Hamilton Skyway bridge. Some snow already accumulated here but it's spotty as there is none in Dundas yet as i type just 8 miles away!

Also, looks likely that as Western PA says parts of Upstate NY & OH will get dumped on from this storm. Upto 2ft. There is also the incredible other side of the system that brought several captured Tornadoes to Mobile, AL on Christmas Day and continues to bring a Severe Weather Threat through the rest of today.

By the end of the storm tomorrow, it turns even colder (currently -4c) as another system moves in for the weekend. EC go for snow again for our area but this one seems at the minute destined to track even further south which gives the big I-95 cities their first real shot at proper winter weather this season.

Will post an update tomorrow on what happened! Fingers x it lives upto the hype!!

Interesting updates - all the winter is in North America or Eastern Europe and Russia etc!! BTW aren't you back in Scotland for Christmas!?

Nice snowy scenes across southern Ontario, Quebec and New England this morning: it's fairly hammering it down in Montreal right now: http://www.montrealcam.com/en-oldmontreal.php

Provisional storm totals from EC: http://weatheroffice.gc.ca/warnings/SWS_bulletins_e.html?prov=on

10cm officially at Pearson so not a major event for T.O. but given the lack of snow last year the first notable snow in quite some time. Be interesting to see how Stewart faired - higher totals in Dundas I would expect. I see Kingston got 30cm and Ottawa is under a snowfall warning for the second time in a week - won't be 45cm this time around though, more like 20-25cm, I would guess.

Parts of Northern Maine are in for up to 18 inches/45 cm of snow through tonight and tomorrow http://www.wunderground.com/US/ME/002.html#WIN

The heaviest snowfall in the GTA since March 2011 sure did arrive and for 12hrs overnight it was a reminder that this is Canada in winter, proper winter! Temp lowered to -5c, gusting to 72kph from a N/NE direction and vis was down to 1mile at one stage, almost a weather/scientific blizzard and certainly enough for EC to upgrade the City of Hamilton area to a Winter Storm Warning. It's a good while since i seen, snow falling as heavy as it did between 11 and 2 this morning! must say, it was fantastic !!! Especially as i wasn't driving anywhere this morning.

So, here's some updates and pics i've gathered from TWN and EC including some pics from the Weather network's facebook page, which (social media is incredible btw!) gave a blow by blow account of the storm as it swept thru the GTA and SC Ontario last night. Updated snowtotals first for Southern Ontario as of 1353 this afternoon -

Location                  snow amount (cm)

Windsor Airport           15
Sarnia                    21
London Airport             8    (estimated due drifting snow)
Tillsonburg               17
Delhi                     24    (weather spotter)
Port Colborne             20-25 (weather spotter)
Welland                   15    (weather spotter) as of midnight
St Catharines             15    (weather spotter) (on the escarpment)
Grimsby                   17    (weather spotter)
Burlington                15    (weather spotter) as of midnight
Hamilton Airport          17
Waterloo                  13
Toronto Pearson Airport   10
Toronto Etobicoke         13
Toronto Downsview         14
Toronto downtown          15
Toronto riverdale         16
Toronto East York         16
Toronto beaches           15
Buttonville Airport       11
Barrie                    17
Shanty Bay                13    (as of 10 AM)
Orillia                   17    (weather spotter)
Coldwater                 15    (weather spotter)
Balaclava                 15
Thornbury                 25
Trenton Airport           29
Kingston Airport          30
Point Petre               21
Brockville                33
Cornwall                  15-20 (weather spotter as of 10 AM)
Kemptville                25
Beckwith                  15    (as of 10 AM)
Franktown                 35
Ottawa downtown           13
Ottawa Airport            18
Ottawa west of airport    26    (weather spotter)
Richmond                  27
Gatineau Airport          18
Pembroke                   9

To that, i can add Dundas lower at 16cm (that's the town) and up here on the escarpment as always slighly better/higher at 19cm before i had to go out and clear the pathways, piles in the banks now over 3ft - man-made of course kid at heart and all that!

Here are some pics from across the GTA :

Toronto this morning where between 10-15cm fell widely

This pic was taken in Burlington, ON during the storm last night, shows the depth of the snow well

This pic above, was just around the corner from us here in Dundas at around 3am!

Dundas, overnight during the nion blizzard! Incredible conditions

This pic was from the Spec this morning as the snowblowers were in full swing. This is also Dundas.

Pretty good storm all in all. The highest single snowfall total at Munro airport since March 23, 2011 and when you considered the wobble the system took on Tuesday where it looked like tracking further south, it was a good result and for an area from Hamilton/Burlington down thru Grimsby, St.Catharine's to Niagara a very good snowevent. Higher totals were found across the border in Northern NY State around Buffalo and along the shoreline of Lake Erie in OH.

And the snow is still falling in Eastern Ontario and into Quebec with Montreal now bearing the brunt and a possible 35-50cm of snow there following on from last week's dumping also, a very good start to winter for them.

For the Hamilton area, in an average December there should be around 48cm of snowfall. So far, with a few days left of the month we are at 19cm for the Airport, pretty much from this one event. EC reporting today that unlike last winter, they expect this one to be more of a normal Ontarian winter which will mean (hopefully) further snowevents.

For travel, some flight cancellations out of Pearson this morning and one cancellation on WJ from Hamilton. Montreal Trudeau last i looked now looking at several cancellations as the storm moves east. GO transit had delays to bus services due to the road conditions. MTO said that most hwy's were cleared by 7am but as you can imagine off the highway and into city streets, especially residential ones conditions have been far from great and ploughs are still working thru it. Both GO Train and Via Rail had minimal disruption this morning, again very good but the lighter than normal passenger loads probably contributed to a better service level than if it had been January 3 or 7!

Outlook, staying cold below average for the foreseeable future and a cold and snowy end to 2012. Still looks likely we will get some light snowfall from system 2 coming in from the SW, this one will give a covering of snow to NYC, Philly and DC in time for Hogmanay (er, New Years Eve, lol ) celebrations. And more snow forecast for the 31st, details uncertain right now.

As you will have guessed Tallyho, i'm still in Ontaro this year. Glad i stayed, what fun i would have missed had i gone home to rainy and cold Scotland.

Away for a cold beer and a lie-down now from that shovelling! Take Care

Alberta roadcams
http://www.amaroadreports.ca/cameras/indian-cabins

Some view this will be by their time tomorrow morning, another 18 inches to be added on to what is already lying http://www.crownofmaine.com/nmain/

Great report, thanks Stewart - at least we can envy enjoy it from afar. Montreal certainly got the biggest dumping of snow out of this event (in terms of major cities), with 45cm: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/12/28/weather-storm.html 

The next storm looks like it's got Atlantic Canada in its sights this weekend - one to watch there.

Certainly it's staying cold in the east, while the west (finally) warms up. Peter in Calgary looks like climbing above zero by the New Year, while the latest GFS run brings -20c 850s into Toronto early in the New Year.

Looks efficiently cleared already.

Had a few snow flurries today around as the snowy scene remains for the GTA. Temp -3c and expected to remain at or below freezing right into the new year. Next storm is just skirting Southern Ontario, this one will develop into an all-out blizzard for parts of Atlantic Canada and give interior sections of New England a re-newed dump of snow. NYC to Washington back to Philly and upto Boston will also get between 4-8cm from this.

For the GTA, a near miss. Maybe another inch or two for Burlington/Hamilton if we get in on a larger outerband from the system but nothing too troubling. Going even colder as Graeme posted potentially into New Years Day but indications show that the milder air coming into the West will eventually interfere in some way with the Eastern weather pattern, maybe just temporaly though into the first/second week in Jan.

Here's another couple of pics i got from facebook from the storm yesterday which as has already been reported brought nearly 50cm of snow to Montreal and higher totals to more rural parts of QC -

A Mini Cooper buried in the snow, Montreal QC Thurs 27 Dec 2012

Someone's backyard in Quebec and a sight i think only dreams can be made of for snowlovers!

Back in the GTA, the Burlington/Hamilton skyway bridge from Burlington 'beach' yesterday afternoon.

It's been a great week of weather reporting on TWO, lucky to have the time finally to post over the holidays. I will check-in before the new year with an update. Have a great weekend everyone.

Stunning pictures  As I am planning to move to Toronto, I cannot imagine how much excitement I will get watching the ensembles, charts and snow forecasts every day. 

Good Saturday afternoon to all, wasn't intending on posting as the original theory was that today's system would bring light snow to some of the GTA but not much to right home about. Well, for once the storm tracked further west and this brought us just enough into the 'let's make it interesting zone'!

So, with the snow now having tapered off and moved further east, initial snowfall totals i've managed to gather from sources are :

Toronto Pearson (CYYZ) 1cm

Kitchener 4cm

London 5cm

Hamilton Munro (CYHM) 6cm

Burlington 5cm

Dundas (Lower) 5cm

Dundas (Mountain) 6cm

A lovely wee bonus and it's cold still -4c. Here's a pic below (sorry it's black and white, it's for effect u see) that we took while out for a drive earlier -

Staying cold, becoming very cold on the back end of this system. Possible -10 to -15c daytime highs reported if the charts hold firm into the early days of January. 2012 going out on a fantastic wintry note.

Great pics

If only

Snowstorm action switches to the Canadian Maritimes today, with up to 45cm forecast for parts of NB, NS and PE. Storm is already underway:

http://www.novascotiawebcams.com/halifax/nova-centre-construction.html

http://www.gov.pe.ca/islandcam/

http://www.fredericton.ca/en/WestmorlandWebcam.asp

Lovely pics.  I have to think back about 25 - 30 yrs to remember anything nearing that this side of the pond!!1

I rather not to waste any more years of waiting for snow or summer weather here so moving abroad decision is a right thing to do now.   6 years no summer and 21 years since Feb 1991 for deep cold but nothing to do with snow as I saw some decent covering since 2009 onward.

We ended up with close to 10 inches from the last two events, with a forecast for some really cold weather on its way

Here's some pics from the last 2 days from the surrounding area (NW Pittsburgh)

The snow also adds a nice mood to the house lights...

Its now a chilly -7c after dark, with the forecast showing a high of -7c by Thursday with overnight lows down to -18c, so i dont think the snow will go anytime soon...

Awesome pics

Thank you so much for the beautiful pics from Canada and Pittsburgh.  I have to be honest and say I'm a touch envious!!  I'm desperate for snow, We've had nothing in South East England at all.