Winter storm recap: 50 reported crashes and 20 cm of snow

Just as fast as it moved in, a major winter storm moved out of Waterloo Region; but not before dumping significant snowfall and contributing to dozens of crashes.

“This storm arrived and departed just as scripted,” said David Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada.

Phillips spoke on The Mike Farwell Show on Thursday and said the wintry system brought around 19 to 20 cm of snow to K-W.

“The snow we got last night and early this morning is more than we’ve seen all this winter, and all of last winter.”

Phillips noted more snow is headed this way, with the potential for another 10 to 20 cm over the weekend.

“This is really a nasty bout of winter weather,” he said.

The mid-week snowstorm led to school closures and multiple other cancellations. Waterloo Regional Police Service said there were 50 reported collisions in 24 hours as of noon Thursday.

It isn’t just more snow that’s a cause for concern. Phillips noted Family Day will likely be one of the coldest days of the winter, which is a trend seen throughout the first half of the month.

“February came out last year as an average of about – 1.5 C — right now, it’s -7.8 C in Kitchener,” said Phillips. “We’ve had a lot of melting days in December and January, but really, it’s the last 10 days… there hasn’t been a melting temperature at all in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.”

It’s bad news if you don’t like the cold, as Phillips said as of right now, “I don’t see another melting day for the rest of February.”

While it’s too early to make any firm predictions for the rest of the season, Phillips added there’s always the chance we might not be putting away shovels until late April.