Severe snow storm headed for Hamilton and area

Light snow in advance of this winter storm is moving across Southern Ontario this morning with some locales near Lake Erie expected to receive 2-4 cm of the white stuff before tapering off to isolated flurries by this afternoon. However heavy snow from the winter storm will arrive in South-western Ontario this evening and quickly spread northeast to the greater Toronto area by shortly after midnight and into Eastern Ontario by Wednesday morning. Widespread total snowfall amounts of 20 to 30 cm are likely before the snow tapers off Wednesday afternoon in the wake of the storm centre. In addition strong and gusty east winds will develop with the snow. This will cause local and frequent whiteout conditions in blowing snow, resulting in near blizzard conditions at times. Lake effect snow bands coming in off Lake Ontario in the stiff north-easterly flow may dump an additional few centimetres of the white stuff onto parts of the Golden Horseshoe around the west end of the lake today. There is some potential for one of these bands to intensify into a snow squall at times. With very low visibility possible in bursts of heavy snow and blowing snow there today. The snow may change to ice pellets and freezing rain for a while tonight and tomorrow morning for regions near Lake Erie. This will be the first major winter storm of the season for the Hamilton area, with the strongest storm of the season for many regions outside the traditional snow belts. The heavy snowfall and blowing snow will cause whiteout conditions making for extremely hazardous driving conditions. This major winter storm is quite large in size and will have a major impact on travel especially tonight and on Wednesday. This is a warning that dangerous winter weather conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions...Listen for updates