Snow/Ice Day (Bus Cancellation) Outlook for Thursday, December 15, 2022
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NOTE: You can click on the map to open a zoomable image which might be easier to read due to the small labels. If you prefer our old city label format, we have included that further down this article.
The first significant snowstorm of the season is expected to affect Southern Ontario beginning Thursday morning with heavy snowfall and prolonged freezing rain. A storm of this magnitude would typically result in widespread school bus cancellations in many regions, however, the worst of the conditions won’t start until later in the morning or early afternoon when the decision to cancel buses has been made hours before.
This will mean that the chance for a ‘snow/ice day’ rests on each school board proactively taking the afternoon’s forecast and alerts from Environment Canada into consideration when deciding in the morning. This tends to be hit or miss with some school boards having a better track record when it comes to proactive cancellation so we’ve factored this into the forecast.
The highest chance of school bus cancellations exists in Southwestern Ontario where a freezing rain warning is in effect and will be ongoing during the early morning hours. We have given this area a 75% chance of a snow day with the more urban areas (London, K/W, Guelph and Hamilton) having a slightly lower chance at 50%.
For Central and Eastern Ontario, there is less certainty as the snow will start later in the day and will again be dependent on boards being proactive. We believe the Kingston and Belleville region is quite likely to see a snow day because that school board has shown a history of considering the forecast when deciding along with Environment Canada issuing a strongly worded snowfall warning. Other school boards are a toss-up at this point and could go either way.
It’s unlikely we will see school bus cancellations in the Niagara, Toronto, Barrie or Ottawa regions as they tend to be more strict with bus cancellations and a weather advisory usually isn’t enough.
FORECAST MAP WITH CITY LABELS
Disclaimer: Instant Weather has zero authority when it comes to bus and school closures. It is completely up to the school boards, bus companies, and local authorities as well as the parents to decide what is best for their children. This is simply our best guess based on our forecast.
