Rain-Snow Mix Makes For Miserable Driving And Walking

There’s nothing better than coming home.

But on Monday, getting there wasn’t half the fun.

The GTA was hit by a low pressure system that brought a mixed bag of precipitation to the city, and what you were dealing with depended a lot on where you were.

Everybody got wet, but for the downtown core, it was more a rain event than anything else. Those farther north, from about the 401 to the 407, got a far messier mix of rain, snow and freezing rain, with a trace to about 3 centimetres.

Father north received a bit more than that.

Brampton, Caledon and Milton all got wet snow.

It made for a slow and frustrating crawl home as the volume of cars combined with the terrible weather to make the stop-and-go conditions even more annoying and dangerous than usual.

The roads turned slippery in some areas and those on foot didn’t get off much better. The rain and snow made for a slushy mess on the sidewalks, leaving puddles in places and making it a challenge to get across some streets.

But it’s a blessing in disguise if you consider what might have happened if all this had fallen as flakes.

Despite having been to more than 400 accidents during last week’s first brush with winter, there were no major accidents on local highways during the rush home as the storm moved in.

The OPP up north couldn’t say the same thing and their experience shows what we missed – their cruisers responded to almost 160 crashes in less than two hours, as conditions deteriorated.

But don’t let the fact it’s not frozen here fool you, especially as temperatures fall now that the sun has gone down.

“This is one of the days that drivers get tricked,” points out Doug Annett of the Skid Control School. “You’re driving along on a road which gives you some confidence, it’s raining, you’ve lost about 30-40 per cent of your grip already but you’re still confident enough in driving in those conditions.

“But then nobody tells you and BAM! It’s frozen. So you’ve gone from a relatively good surface to something that gives you less than 10 per cent of the grip you’re used to.”

Police say some motorists are still driving like it’s summer, a dangerous practice. They’re recommending you leave several car lengths between you and the guy ahead.

“It’s getting wet, snow is starting to fall and the temperature of the road is actually cooling,” outlines Sgt. Tim Burrows. “This is a great recipe for creating the black ice situations. And your tires aren’t as effective and your braking not as effective. And it’s all things that … make you have to take more time, slow down and be more alert to what’s going on around you all the time.”

What happens if you wind up in a skid on suddenly slippery roads? Look ahead if you hit an icy patch and start to skid, Annett advises, and steer in the direction of your slide. Slow down and don’t follow too closely.

We get a few of these mixtures every year but generally not quite this early. The norm for this time of year is 5C.

Still, like last week’s first storm of the season, we’re getting off fairly easy. Areas near Georgian Bay and north of the St. Lawrence River Valley will get socked by another 10cm on Monday and almost as much on Tuesday.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement, advising those in the affected spots that heavy snowfall warnings could be issued for the worst hit areas.

Our temperatures here are staying mostly on the plus side all week and after last week’s deep freeze, it’s a welcome relief. But while it will be warmer than before, it will also be gloomy.

We could see a few flurries on Tuesday and a trace to a couple more centimetres before this stubborn disturbance finally moves off by Thursday.

But don’t expect to see much sunshine at least until the very end of the work week.

See the 7-day forecast here.