Environment Canada has issued winter storm warnings for the areas of Big Trout Lake, Pickle Lake, and Sandy Lake, anticipating up to 30 cm of snow and wind gusts of up to 70 km/h.

Blizzard conditions are forecast to last until the afternoon when they will be replaced by flurries.

A spring storm that is hitting southern Ontario and is predicted to dump up to eight centimeters of snow by Tuesday is wreaking havoc on the roadways.

The Greater Toronto Area is predicted to receive four to eight millimeters of snow, which began falling Monday afternoon and will continue into Tuesday.

Cold weather in Canada
CANADA-WEATHER-SNOW-STORM
(Photo : DANIEL CRUMP/AFP via Getty Images)

At the height of the storm, Environment Canada predicts snowfall rates of three millimeters per hour in Hamilton, Guelph, Kitchener, London, the Blue Mountains, Owen Sound, Sarnia, and Hanover, as per CTV News.

Environment Canada warned on Monday that visibility might be drastically impaired at times due to heavy snow. Be prepared to modify your driving style in response to changing road circumstances.

The weather service advises postponing any non-essential travel, saying that heavy and blowing snow may restrict visibility to near zero on highways at times.

Crash on Highway 401

Following a major incident on Highway 401 near London on Monday afternoon, the Ontario Provincial Police are encouraging drivers to slow down and drive according to the weather conditions.

Officers are "amazed" that no one was killed after a vehicle slammed into the rear of a van on Highway 401 near Union Road.

According to authorities, Highway 401 in the region has been blocked while the cleanup and investigation are ongoing.

The OPP reacted in Niagara Region when a motorist lost control of the QEW at Netherby Road and drove up an embankment.

Read more: Powerful Cold Front and Low Pressure System to Hit the Eastern US from Sunday

Cold weather will strike the plains in the Rockies

During this time, a crippling snowstorm, dubbed Winter Storm Silas by The Weather Channel, pounded sections of the northern Rockies and northern Plains with feet of snow and powerful winds.

The intricacies of this forecast will be ironed out as the event approaches, as is customary several days in advance, but the weather pattern later in the day will be interesting when the week comes right out of a meteorology 101 textbook and gives us more confidence in the overall scenario, as per WUnderground.

The jet stream will make a significant southern dive into the western United States.

This will reinforce low pressure and draw warm and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico north, while also drawing cooler air from Canada south.

While isolated severe thunderstorms may occur in areas of the Plains beginning Tuesday, severe thunderstorms are expected to become more common and widespread throughout the Plains beginning Friday.

The most likely region for severe weather on Friday extends from sections of Kansas northward through Nebraska, western Iowa, and southern South Dakota, as shown by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center contour below.

Aside from that, some scattered severe storms are expected in the central United States this weekend, ranging from the Mississippi Valley to the southern Plains, though the precise location of these storms is unknown that weekend danger is unknown due to discrepancies in the prediction model timing of this spring storm.

It is too early to judge the severity of the severe weather danger, but at least some tornadoes and destructive winds are possible.

Related article: Developing Storm System and Cold Front to Cause Strong Winds, Winter Storm, and Torrential Rain Across the US