Students celebrated and commuters cursed as Ottawa awakened to a snowy, icy, slushy mess on roads around the capital.
We woke up to ice pinging against our bedroom window & opened the curtains to see a sheet of ice. Yep, today's weather is horrific #ottawa
— кαяєηzα (@kaelsu) February 3, 2016
Happy freaking February….. #freezingrain #ice #windshield saving the scraping, just warming up my car #ottweather pic.twitter.com/QtSNW4dZNq
— ella jacobs (@BeachEllaJacobs) February 3, 2016
School buses across Ottawa were cancelled for the first snow day of 2016, though schools remained open. Gatineau school buses continued to run.
ALERT: All school buses cancelled today – Feb 3rd. Schools remain open. District wide sporting events cancelled. #ocdsb
— OCDSB (@OCDSB) February 3, 2016
Feb. 3: Buses are running normally for all our sectors.
— WQSB (@WQSB_Inclement) February 3, 2016
Several flights at the Ottawa Airport were cancelled, still more were delayed.
And commuters faced a messy rush hour as treacherous roads made the morning drive slower than usual. Accidents were reported on the eastbound Highway 417 at Palladium Drive and also approaching St. Laurent.
Not a fun drive in this morning. To all my Ottawa peeps – please be careful out there. Very slippery roads.
— Julie Auger (@Flip_4) February 3, 2016
The freezing rain was expected to continue throughout the morning, changing to rain around noon, when temperatures would begin climbing to a high of about eight degrees Celsius.
“Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become icy and slippery,” said an alert from Environment Canada. “Take extra care when walking or driving in affected areas. Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. There may be a significant impact on rush hour traffic in urban areas. Utility outages may occur.”
There was a 40-per-cent chance that rain or flurries would continue Wednesday evening. Thursday’s forecast called for rain or flurries in the morning with a high of one degree Celsius.
Walking, busing, driving is going to be extra challenging today. #ottawa #ottcity #freezingrain #weather pic.twitter.com/bD97vz1PeW
— Luciana Nechita (@luciana_nechita) February 3, 2016
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