"It's one of those days where if you don't have to drive, it's a good idea not to."

That's the advice from provincial police Sgt. Cam Woolley as a major winter storm slashes across Ontario.

"So far we've had almost [300] collisions across the GTA and provincial highways. So far no life-threatening crashes. Over half of those, though, single car vehicles were going too fast for conditions, spinning out into the guard rails and the ditch," Woolley said.

A homeless person on King Street in Toronto seeks heat on a ventilation grate as the storm moves in.
(Dwight Friesen/CBC)

It's a ferocious start to February. A storm packing high winds, snow, freezing rain and ice pellets is pounding Toronto and all of southern Ontario, making travel difficult and driving dangerous.

Environment Canada warned the GTA to be prepared for a storm packing anywhere from 15 to 30 centimetres of snow.

"The problem with these ones that start in the States is that they convert all that moisture from the Gulf of Mexico — and that warm air is colliding with our Arctic air. So this is a big one and it's continuing to intensify," said CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe.

Toronto streets are clogged by an early-morning snowstorm, with forecast accumulations of 15 to 30 centimetres.
(Peter McCluskey/CBC)

"In these types of storms, generally, we can see between 15 and 30 centimetres of snow. And we've got every [type] of bad weather associated with this one: freezing rain, ice pellets, strong winds. 

"For the GTA we're probably expecting between 10 and 20 centimetres, whiteouts to the north of the city. We'll see that freezing rain sometime in the afternoon, right along [Highway] 401, when we get the higher amounts of ice pellets, obviously lower amounts of snow, but that's not necessarily a good thing when we're talking about freezing rain," Wagstaff said.

The early morning commute in Toronto didn't appear too bad, with many people heeding the advice of the police to stay off the roads — or just take an unscheduled three-day holiday. 

The Toronto Transit Commission didn't report any major delays during the morning rush hour, but as the storm worsened there were problems with buses and streetcars making it through the snow.

Via Rail said most of its trains along the Windsor to Quebec City corridor are full, with some limited space.

GO trains and buses are operating, though the company is warning commuters to expect delays.

200 city salt trucks, 700 plows rolling

The city was prepared for the winter onslaught, with a fleet of more than 200 de-icers, nearly 700 road plows and more than 300 sidewalk plows standing by. 

Peter Noehammer, who is in charge of snow clearing operations for the city, told CBC News, "It will probably take us right up until Saturday to clear up all the local roads in Toronto.

A TTC streetcar driver clears ice and snow from the streetcar tracks at Spadina Avenue and Queen's Quay in Toronto.
(Dwight Friesen/CBC)

"We started at about five this morning with our salt trucks, and we've got 200 salt trucks rolling on the roads of Toronto. We expect to go to plowing during, or slightly after the tail end of the [morning] rush hour when the accumulations are expected to be high enough on the main roads that we would send out the plow. Then we'll be plowing throughout the day today to keep the main roads clear. Then we'll be moving to the collector streets and the local roads, later on in the day," he said. 

Pearson International Airport, the country's busiest, has cancelled or delayed hundreds of arrivals and departures — and that will have a domino effect across the country as planes and travellers are unlikely to make connections. 

The best advice the airport can give is for travellers to call ahead or check the Greater Toronto Airports Authority website for up to date information.

"When we have snow like this coming in we make sure we have extra staff on hand for snow clearing," said Scott Armstrong, spokesman for the GTTA. Our crews started pre-treating the facility early this morning and then switched to snow removal. We'll keep an eye on it as it turns to freezing rain this afternoon. But we're confident we have a good plan in place, that we have the resources in place that we can deal with it."

Most Toronto-area school boards cancelled bus pickups and some boards cancelled classes for the day.

Around noon the Toronto District School Board decided to send children home, but only with parental permission.

High winds could cause whiteouts

The forecast also includes strong winds, which provincial police say could cause whiteouts and make driving doubly hazardous.  The OPP called in extra officers to help out during the "dangerous winter weather conditions," including whiteouts, predicted by Environment Canada.

Woolley says that in spite of all the warnings "some of the motorists clearly aren't slowing down here on [Highway] 400, and if they continue on at that pace we're going to see more collisions."

The weather problems will intensify during the day before moving eastward late Friday night.

"The only thing worse than a snow day for motorists and the OPP is a freezing rain day, and that's starting to happen," said Woolley.

"Late afternoon, not good for the drive home, when we can expect to see that freezing rain — and that snow's going to last right around until midnight, tapering off in the evening time," said Wagstaff.