Storm buries parts of Ontario under nearly a metre of snow, thousands without power [Video]

A blast of winter weather delivered a “rude awakening” to parts of Ontario, an Environment Canada meteorologist said, as some communities dug out from nearly a metre of snow on Saturday with more to come.

Snow blowing off the Great Lakes closed a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in northern Ontario, knocked out power to more than 30,000 customers and buried some communities under piles of heavy snow.

The snowfall and hazardous road conditions were “a very rude awakening” after Ontario’s mild autumn, said operational meteorologist Brent Linington.

“It’s a pretty big flip of the switch to go from the nice fall that we had to see the snowfall that we’re getting now,” he said in an interview.

Communities on the shores of lakes Superior and Huron felt the brunt of the storm and remained under a snow squall warning Saturday. Areas around Niagara Falls and Kingston were also under lake-effect snow squall watches.

Bracebridge and Sault …