Milder air returns to Ontario with a burst of messy, disruptive weather

While we can expect milder weather to return to southern Ontario this week, an Arctic high tracking from the northern Prairies will interrupt the warm-up and provide the key to a significant snowfall.

Brace for travel issues Monday and Tuesday as in particular, as multiple systems will bring a couple shots of snow. Tuesday's system will be more potent, threatening to bring a widespread 5-10 cm to the region, including the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

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Expect slippery roads on both days, but especially on Tuesday, during the morning and afternoon commutes. Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions.

Snow to make for slippery commutes

Monday is looking like a snow appetizer across the GTA and southern Ontario before a more organized system moves in on Tuesday.

Although milder, a disturbance is ushered in from the southwest with fill-in periods of light snowfall throughout the day.

Only a trace to a couple of cm of snowfall would be possible out of this initial system unless you’re along the Lake Huron shores, where up to 5 cm of snow could be squeezed out.

Toronto’s season-to-date snowfall is playing catchup, but is still about 15 cm below average for this time of year. In fact, Vancouver, B.C., accumulated more snowfall last week than Toronto has recorded this season so far.

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The more potent shortwave trough lifts north on Tuesday, providing ample opportunity for light-to-moderate snowfall to develop across southwestern Ontario.

With temperatures hovering near the freezing mark, it’ll be a wet snowfall that has the risk of impacting the Tuesday evening commute times. A widespread 5-10 cm of snow is possible in much of southern Ontario. While nothing excessive, it will definitely be enough to have some impact on travelling.

After Tuesday, the wall-to-wall warm-up continues across North America, with an extended thaw forecast across southern Ontario.

Story continues

Looming, rainy, potentially foggy, pattern

After the transition to a milder pattern, ample moisture originating from the Gulf of Mexico lifts across the area through Thursday, with more unsettled weather forecast to linger into Friday.

It’s a setup ripe for fog development, with the warmer air mass traversing the chillier Great Lakes.

The warmer weather will take a short break as a few days of colder temperatures are expected as we transition from January to February. However, it now appears that the cold weather will lack any consistency during early February.

However, from mid-February to early March should feature more consistent cold –– at least near seasonal with the potential –– for a stretch of colder-than-normal temperatures.

Stay with The Weather Network for the latest on your forecast across Ontario.

WATCH: Storm Hunter explains why snow squalls are so difficult to predict

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