Wintry weather for parts of Ontario, Quebec
South of the border, flights cancelled in Chicago after 1st significant snowfall of the season
Wintry weather is hitting parts of Quebec and Ontario this weekend, a month before the official start of the season.
In western Quebec, a snowfall warning is in place for Abitibi, Témiscamingue and La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve.
The regions are expected to get about 15 centimetres, the first significant snowfall of the season, starting late Saturday and ending Sunday evening.
Environment Canada warns that visibility on the roads may be reduced at times.
A series of snowfall warnings are in place in Ontario, as far north as Kirkland Lake–New Liskeard–Temagami and as far south as Huron–Perth.
Snow will be heavy at times overnight, Environment Canada says, with between 15 and 25 cm expected by the time it's over, depending on the area.
Lake effect flurries are expected to develop on Sunday over Lake Huron, possibly creating snow squalls.
Driving conditions will quickly deteriorate as the snow moves in, the agency warns.
Toronto will get off relatively easy, with a 30 per cent chance of rain showers or flurries in the afternoon on Sunday.
Snow disrupts travel in U.S. midwest
In the U.S. people fired up snowblowers and dug out their shovels Saturday after the first significant snowstorm of the season dumped on the Upper Midwest, blanketing a swath from South Dakota to Michigan.
The storm created hazardous travel conditions and caused more than 500 flight cancellations. A blast of much colder air was following the storm.
The U.S. National Weather Service said the snow, which first fell in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa on Friday, would head northeast into Canada late Saturday after moving through Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
In the southern Wisconsin town of Janesville, between 25 and 50 centimetres of snow had fallen by late Saturday afternoon, the service said.
Southside True Value Hardware manager Matt Krienke said business had been good in the days leading up to the storm, but that it had become "very, very, very, very slick."
"People who don't need to drive don't need to be out," he said.
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport had 18 centimetres of snow by noon Saturday, which forced the cancellation of about 310 flights in and out of the busy airport, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com. Midway International Airport had cancelled about 110 flights.
With files from The Associated Press