Heavy snowfall across northwestern Ontario leads to a number of closures, cancellations

While the first day of spring is less than a month away, people in northwestern Ontario are still brandishing their snow shovels after being pelted with a winter storm overnight.

Snowfall warnings were issued for much of the region Thursday, spanning from the Ontario-Manitoba border to Thunder Bay. Between 15 and 25 centimetres of snow were expected.

As of Friday morning, the warnings remain in effect, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The flurries have led to a number of closures and cancellations in Thunder Bay:

• Lakehead University and Confederation College have cancelled all classes for the day.
• All student transportation has been cancelled, though many elementary school students are already off on a PA day. High schools remain open.
• The Thunder Bay Food Bank is closed and will open Monday morning. 
• Thunder Bay Transit buses were temporarily suspended but are back running.
• The City of Thunder Bay has suspended garbage collection. Residents are asked to leave their garbage at the curb for pickup on Saturday.
• Canada Post has issued a red delivery service alert for the city, meaning no mail will be delivered on Friday. Delivery will resume when conditions have improved.

Meanwhile, a number of school buses were cancelled in the Superior–Greenstone area, along with White River and Hornepayne. Further west of the city, all school buses were cancelled in Dryden, Red Lake, Ear Falls, Vermillion Bay, Ignace and Upsala.

Trudy Kidd, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told CBC News the snow is expected to subside in Thunder Bay by noon on Friday.

"It might just be light after that, but the bulk of it will have fallen by mid-morning," said Kidd.

Precipitation levels have been normal in northwestern Ontario in February, she said.

"It has been a totally different story here in southern Ontario. We're getting a lot more snow than usual. But I'm seeing it's not so much the case for northwestern Ontario," Kidd said.

As for the weekend, she said, a ridge of high pressure means people can expect cold but sunny temperatures and less weather activity.

"Our next couple low-pressure systems are actually missing northwestern Ontario. They're impacting southern Ontario again," said Kidd.