For the second time in lower than a 12 months, a large snowstorm shuttered Toronto’s faculties the day earlier than many have been set to shut anyway for a coaching day, prompting hundreds of youngsters and households to move to the town’s parks.
On Thursday morning, mother and father and youngsters discovered that class was cancelled throughout Toronto due to the treacherous journey situations left behind by a significant snowstorm, the identical sample of occasions as in February 2025.
Friday is knowledgeable growth day at each Toronto public and Toronto Catholic faculty boards, that means many of the metropolis’s school-age youngsters have been handed a four-day, snow-covered long-weekend.
Many headed to Toronto’s 1,500 parks to construct snow statues and sled down hills within the freezing chilly on Thursday.
“You don’t must go to high school, and you’ll construct snowmen,” Ayoa Kellerman informed World Information between actions at one park. “Once I wakened, my mother informed me, I ran exterior and jumped within the snow.”
Her youthful sister, Delphine, stated she was so excited when she discovered faculty had been cancelled and that she may play within the snow, she screamed loud sufficient her mom needed to inform her off.
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The huge snowstorm that cancelled faculty prompted an orange climate warning from Setting Canada for Toronto, predicting as a lot as 35 cm of snow.
Temperatures additionally dropped considerably in a single day, reaching minus double digits. Toronto woke as much as -22 C with the wind chill on Thursday morning and, though it warmed by the day, it by no means headed above freezing.
Roads throughout the GTA have been paralyzed from the storm as main routes similar to highways, expressways and inside roads have been lined in a big quantity of snow and with black ice, inflicting slippery situations.
Jeniffer Chau, who went exterior to play within the snow along with her daughter Edie on Thursday, stated with the ability to work at home had freed her up — and left her taking care of a number of of her neighbours’ children.
“For me, it’s superb as a result of I work at home, however I do know a number of different folks right here have sort of dumped the children onto us who’re versatile,” she informed World Information.
Edie stated she was thrilled when she discovered faculty was cancelled, however wasn’t certain if she was being tricked.
“I slept by previous my alarm anyway, so I used to be actually, actually excited,” she stated. “I didn’t imagine my mum for the primary time as a result of she was namiung off issues which might be closed in the present day and I used to be simply ready for college to pop up.”
A sprinkling of snow and temperatures beneath and round freezing are predicted for Friday and the remainder of the four-day weekend.
— With information from World Information’ Gabby Rodrigues and Caryn Lieberman
© 2026 World Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
