hursday March 6, 2008

Looking forward to a nice leisurely weekend?

Don't count on it. At least part of it will see you outside in your driveway shoveling another large dumping of snow.

Just two days after the city weathered yet another big storm that dropped up to 15 centimetres of flakes across the GTA and made for a miserable morning commute, comes the latest sequel in the unpopular series.

A oncoming low from Texas will gathering moisture as it slowly seeps its way towards Ontario. Exactly how it tracks will determine how much snow we'll get, but this unwanted guest is expected to arrive at the worst time - just as the Friday afternoon rush heats up.

The storm has the potential to bring about 5-10cm to the city, with some forecast models showing up to 20 by the time it all ends late Saturday. About 5cm could fall Friday night and that's just the appetizer. The full course meal of this latest offering will be served up the next day, with another 10-15cm more.

Only a high pushing out of the priaries could prevent it from becoming a major event, but it's too soon to say if that will rescue us.

Whatever happens, this latest disturbance could mean your drive home will be a real mess, and some are suggesting you make plans to leave early, just in case.

Bad as things are, southern Ontario could get off easy. Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement, noting that this storm has the potential to be "one of the biggest snow makers of the winter" for the eastern part of the province. So if you have any travel plans, you might want to reconsider them.

It's just the latest big blow to a city that was winter weary before the season even began, after snow first started falling back in November. And while this one won't be a record breaker for us, it could come close. The all-time snowfall for March 8th came back in 1980, when 17.8cm hit the ground.

And after a difficult and impossible winter, this won't surprise you: there's more snow in the forecast for the early part of next week, with another period of flakes expected on Tuesday.

The good news is there's more precipitation in the long range outlook for next Thursday. How can that be good news? This time, it appears that temperatures will stay well above freezing, and whatever comes down will fall as rain.

What are the all-time winter snowfall records for Toronto?

Check the 7-day forecast

Read meteorologist Michael Kuss's blog on the approaching storm