School buses cancelled in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario on Thursday

The city is getting ready for a major blast of winter weather with up to 40 cm of snow expected. CTV’s Tyler Fleming with the pre-storm preparations.

School buses are cancelled in Ottawa today, and schools are closed in Renfrew County and eastern Ontario, as a major winter storm hits the region.

A total of 27 cm of snow was recorded in Ottawa as of 9 a.m., and another 10 to 20 cm of snow is expected on Thursday.

• Parking bans, bus cancellations, flights grounded: Here’s what you need to know about the major storm hitting Ottawa

All school buses are cancelled for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ottawa Catholic School Board, the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est and the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario.

OC Transpo 600-series school routes and any school trips on regular routes will not run Thursday, OSTA said.

All schools are open for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Ottawa Catholic School Board, the Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est.

• OC Transpo reducing bus service, parking articulated buses on Thursday due to significant snowstorm

School closures

Ottawa’s French Public School Board has closed all schools today. The Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario says it has “taken the exceptional measure of closing all of its schools and preschool and after-school childcare services.”

The Upper Canada District School Board and Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario says all schools are closed on Thursday due to the storm.

“The decision was made based on the forecasted storm, which is predicted to bring a mix of heavy snow, blowing snow, and poor visibility to the region,” the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario said.

“While our practice is to keep schools open on inclement weather days, given the expected effect on operations of this highly impactful winter storm, we do not want to put our students, families and staff at risk.”

All schools are closed today for the Renfrew County District School Board and Renfrew County Catholic District School Board due to the storm. The boards say the closure is “out of an abundance of caution,” and there will be no staff at schools.

School bus cancellations in eastern Ontario

School buses are cancelled today for all schools in the Limebank District School Board and the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board.

All schools are open.