Winter storm warning ended.
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The first real storm of the season is dumping up to 30 cm of snow on the area as Environment Canada continues its winter storm warning for:
- North Bay - West Nipissing,
- Burk's Falls - Bayfield Inlet
- Greater Sudbury and vicinity
Hazardous winter conditions are expected with additional snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 cm today. That will break the 49 year old snowfall record for this day set in 1966 of 10.7 cm.
A Texas low is tracking towards the Great Lakes area today and will continue to drop snow, at times heavy and blowing snow, to the area.
Total snowfall amounts of 20 to 30 cm are expected.
Relief later in the day however, as snow will begin to taper off this afternoon.
It will also be windy, blowing from the east 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming northeast 20 this afternoon.
The high will only reach minus 7.
North Bay Hydro reports some customers in the city were without power in the northern rural area of the city by Chadbourne, Four Mile Lake, Widdifield Station areas. A downed tree was the cause of outage and crews are working to return power to the few remaining customers still without service.
There's more snow with with risk of freezing drizzle coming this evening. Look for an additional 2 to 4 cm.
Wind northeast 20 km/h becoming light early this evening. Temperature steady near minus 7
Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become difficult to navigate due to accumulating snow. Visibility will be suddenly reduced to near zero at times in heavy snow and blowing snow. Poor weather conditions may contribute to transportation delays.
However today, the OFSC cautions snowmobilers that there are no safe riding opportunities yet in most parts of Ontario, including all OFSC snowmobile trails. OFSC snowmobile clubs and volunteers are working hard to get trails ready, but only with the continuing cooperation of Old Man Winter and Mother Nature can the start of the 2016 provincial trail riding season get officially underway.
So tempting as it may be to go for that first ride with fresh snow on the ground in many areas, snowmobilers are reminded again that no base has yet been formed to protect riders and sleds from hidden obstacles or underlying terrain irregularities. More important, with temperatures not consistently cold enough to date, the pre-requisite freeze up for safe riding anywhere is late and incomplete, so no ice conditions should be considered safe to support any weight at this time or to ride over on a sled.
Based on these current conditions and the present long range forecast, it is very likely that the OFSC provincial trail system will not be available to ride before the first week of January.
Meanwhile, snowmobilers are advised to go online at www.ofsc.on.ca to check the status of local snowmobile trails and for safety’s sake, to stay off all trails that show as Red (unavailable). Trails that show Yellow indicate Limited Availability, while trails that show Green indicate Available to Ride. Wherever trails show Red at this time, the OFSC strongly recommends that rider keep their sleds parked and avoid riding anywhere.
