I'm sure most of you have already read about it, but just in case...
Courtesy of CTV News
A winter storm watch for southern Ontario was upgraded Tuesday morning to a winter storm warning amid forecasts of "near blizzard conditions."
The warning came as a monster storm gathered strength in the central U.S. on Tuesday -- the same system expected to make its way to Ontario by midnight Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.
Environment Canada said two to four centimetres of light snow was expected to fall Tuesday in scattered flurries throughout the day. But heavy snow will begin to arrive in Southwestern Ontario Tuesday evening and in Eastern Ontario by Wednesday morning.
Total accumulation is expected to hit 20 or 30 centimetres before the snow tapers off Wednesday.
"In addition strong and gusty east winds will develop with the snow. This will cause local and frequent whiteout conditions in blowing snow, resulting in near blizzard conditions at times," Environment Canada said.
The warning went on to say the major winter storm is "quite large in size and will have a major impact on travel especially tonight and on Wednesday."
The system is currently located over Texas and heading north toward the lower Great Lakes, with Environment Canada warning the storm has a large band of heavy snow on its northern side.
Toronto's Pearson International Airport issued a news release on Tuesday warning that "flight cancellations and delays should be expected as airlines adjust their schedules to meet the weather conditions."
The airport's departures schedule showed a number of delays and cancellations on Tuesday, mostly to U.S. cities in the storm's path, such as Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Grand Rapids, MI.
In Texas, icy conditions virtually shut down air travel Tuesday morning, said CNN's Jim Spellman in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In Oklahoma City, air travel was shut down and heavy snow and strong winds were combining to make road travel a dangerous endeavour, he said.
"I'm telling you this is the real thing here in Oklahoma City," Spellman told CTV News Channel.
"Right now we have whiteout conditions and this is going to stretch all the way to Michigan and it's going to make its way across the United States and Canada and before this thing is over it could impact 100 million people."
Spellman said Oklahoma's National Guard was being deployed to rescue stranded motorists who defied advisories and attempted to travel on the roads.
He said Oklahoma City is not used to heavy snow conditions and has a limited number of snow plows and salt trucks. In Chicago, he said, 120 garbage trucks were being converted into temporary snowplows ahead of the expected snow.