Sault, Sudbury hardest hit by massive March storm

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Environment Canada says the winter storm that hit northeastern Ontario on Sunday and Monday dropped about 43 cm on Sault Ste. Marie and another 34 on Greater Sudbury.

But meteorologist Geoff Coulson said the strong winds meant that some areas of the Sault seemed barely affected, while most of Greater Sudbury seemed buried under the snow.

“This has been a massive March storm right across northeastern Ontario -- one of the biggest probably in quite some time,” Coulson said.

“We are still going to be counting up the snow accumulations for the next number of hours to get a better sense of where it fits historically.”

The storm shut down services in the Sault and Sudbury. Officials with the Rainbow District School Board confirmed that the Lancer Dome outside of Lasalle Secondary School in New Sudbury collapsed because of the storm.

“The dome has collapsed under the weight of the snow,” officials said in an email.

“As a result, all community use is cancelled until further notice. Contractors have been called to assess the situation once the weather permits. We have filed a claim with our insurance provider.”

500 cm of snow in the Sault this winter

Officials in Sault Ste. Marie said in an update later Monday that the recent storm brought the amount of snow that has fallen in the city to 500 cm this year.

“Snow-clearing operations continue across the community as crews work to manage the significant accumulation,” officials said.

Coulson said the only parts of the province that largely missed the storm were areas in the northwest.

“Every other part of the province has some element of this storm,” he said.

Changed to freezing rain

Coulson said snowfall totals would have been higher in Sudbury, but the snow changed to freezing rain earlier Monday morning. North Bay also got a substantial amount of rain.

“That cut down on the snow accumulation,” he said.

“It wasn’t too bad initially in Timmins, Cochrane and Kapuskasing. They were kind of on the northern edge of the storm during the overnight hours. But now some of the heavier snow has moved into those areas ... So this is a massive storm system bringing impacts right across northeastern Ontario.”

In some areas further south, he said the weather system is primarily rain and strong winds, but cold temperatures in the north are wreaking havoc.

“I think the difference with this storm was just the intensity (and) the combination of the huge amounts of snow that it was able to produce, combined with the very, very strong and gusty winds,” Coulson said.

For Tuesday, he said the storm is pulling toward Quebec and will be replaced by cold temperatures. Some snow will fall in some areas, but it should taper off overnight.

“The system will start to weaken a little bit as it pulls further off to the east,” Coulson said.

While there will be some warmer days, he said residents should expect generally colder temperatures for the rest of the month and even into April, he added.

“So, unfortunately, for those who are not fans of winter weather, it looks like we have a fair amount more winter still yet to go.”