Winter weather travel advisory lifted after light snow blankets GTA

It was a mild and rainy start to the work week, but it felt a lot more like winter by Monday evening, with gusty flurries hitting parts of the Greater Toronto Area through the overnight and into Tuesday morning.

Most of the GTA is waking up to a light dusting of snow on Tuesday and a winter weather travel advisory has now been lifted for the region.

A sharp temperature drop throughout the day set things up for the messy Monday evening commute and roads remain slippery despite not as much snowfall as expected.

Most school buses are running across the GTA but the Durham District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Board say buses have been cancelled for Zones 1, 2 & 3. All schools in the region remain open and buses are still running in Zone 4.

A full list of bus cancellations across the GTA can be found here. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO LIVE WEATHER COVERAGE!

CityNews weather specialist Denise Andreacchi says the late week warmup means the snow we see early this week will not increase the chances of a white Christmas in the GTA — with calm and quiet weather in the forecast from midweek through to Christmas Eve.

“The temperatures are too mild throughout the week,” she says. “Any snow we might see is going to be melting.”

“Areas to the north and northwest of the GTA are certainly seeing the potential for quite a bit of accumulation because we have squalls setting up along Georgian Bay.”

Tuesday will see sun and cloud and a chance of flurries with a guaranteed high of -1 C. Things will return to the plus side for the rest of the work week with daytime highs hovering above the freezing mark.

Environment Canada defines a white Christmas as having two or more centimetres of snow on the ground as of 7 a.m. Christmas day.

Thursday marks the official start of winter.