Storm beginning tonight will make travel risky, forecasters say

Communities around the Ottawa River, including Ottawa-Gatineau, should get the worst of a storm dragging through the region on Thursday and Friday, according to winter storm warning issued early Thursday.

Winter storm warnings cover Ottawa, Gatineau, communities north and east of Gatineau, the Cornwall, Barry's Bay and Arnpriorareas, Lanark County and Prescott-Russell.

What had been a forecast of 15 to 30 centimetres of snow largelyfirmed up Thursday morning to a warning of 15 to 25 centimetres by Friday evening in those areas. There could also be rain or freezing rain Thursday evening.

That's on top of Thursday's light snow and potential for freezing drizzle.

"Consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve," Environment Canada wrote in the warning.

"Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Visibility will be suddenly reduced to near zero at times in heavy snow and blowing snow."

The City of Ottawa issueda daytime winter parking ban from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, which it says might need to be extended.

The temperature in Ottawa is expected to be around 0 C during the storm before dropping for the weekend.

In a video tweet Thursday evening, OC Transpo's manager of rail operations said the transit service will "mobilizing equipment on the tracks overnight" to make sure infrastructure will be cleared of snow Friday morning, but warned commuters of slippery conditions.

Surrounding areas

Snowfall warnings for the Pembroke and Bancroft areas call for 15 to 25 centimetres of snow.

Areas along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario to Cornwall's west could see more rain than snow. They could seeheavy rain late in the afternoon and 15 to 25 millimetres of rain total before a bit of snow Friday.

The Deep River, Pontiac and Tweed areashave no weather alerts at all.

Autumn and early winter have been generally warmer than normal in Ottawa, with cooler air moving in more recently.

This has been punctuated by double-digit snowfalls: almost all of the capital's96 centimetres of snow in December came from four systems. Ottawa had less than three centimetres of snow in January up to Wednesday.