Phillips said the 'critical window of concern' is from around noon Friday until noon on Saturday. #weather #storm #winter #ottawa #fyp ♬ original sound - ctvnewsottawa It's got the shot of rain, the shot of snow later on, it's got that flash freeze, and it's got powerful A major winter storm is threatening to disrupt holiday travel in #Ontario this weekend. It's the multi-faceted part of this storm that really creates the issues. But you can get a lot of misery even if you don't set records. 'I don't think there will be any records set. 'The energy in that system is incredible. 'You get wild weather when you have cold air duking it out with warm air,' he said. Phillips said the coming storm will be the product of very cold Arctic air-currently causing frigid temperatures in western Canada-colliding with a warm surge from the Gulf of Mexico. Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become icy and slippery.' 'Travel is expected to be hazardous due to reduced visibility in some locations. 'Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow,' Environment Canada said.

The weather agency is asking people to consider changing their travel plans amid potentially dangerous travel conditions.

Those winds could be accompanied by heavy snow at times. That temperature drop could bring strong and 'potentially damaging' winds up to 90 km/h Friday and continuing into Saturday. Temperatures are then expected to plummet Friday afternoon, leading to a potential flash freeze. 'During this transition, there is a risk of freezing rain and ice pellets.' Up to 15 centimetres could fall by Friday morning before the show transitions to rain. 'People are going to have to recalibrate their travel plans, maybe cancel them in some cases.'Įnvironment Canada issued a winter storm watch Wednesday afternoon calling for snow beginning late Thursday. 'The weather is probably the worst you could imagine.' 'This is not what you want during the busiest weekend coming up of the year,' Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips told CTV Morning Live on Wednesday. A major winter storm is expected to bring a dangerous mix of rain, snow, flash freezing and high winds to Ottawa and much of Ontario, threatening to disrupt holiday weekend travel plans.

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