Cleanup will take ‘days’ after record-breaking Toronto snowstorm, city officials say

TORONTO — The cleanup after a record-breaking winter storm that left mountains of snow across Toronto and the surrounding areas is expected to take several days, city officials said Monday as a snow day was declared for schools across the region and commuters faced severe transit delays.

Mayor Olivia Chow said even though plowing is well underway in the aftermath of Sunday’s storm that dumped up to 60 centimetres of snow in some parts of the Greater Toronto Area, snow removal will take a while, especially on narrow residential streets where some people may still be struggling to get out of their driveways.

“Contractors have been actively and relentlessly plowing, and we will continue plowing non-stop and we won’t stop until the job is done,” she said at a press conference Monday afternoon, promising that Tuesday’s commute will be better.

City manager Paul Johnson said the plowing will continue until enough space is opened up on both arterial and local roads, after which crews will focus on “major scale” snow removal.

“This storm will require a process that’s going to take a few days for us to move along but, as the mayor says, we’re well on our way on that process,” he told reporters. “It does take us some time to get there because we have to get through the plowing before we can get to that large scale operation.”

Environment Canada said Pearson International Airport saw the highest daily total snowfall on record with 46 centimetres on Sunday, bringing this month’s snowfall total to 88.2 centimetres. That makes it the snowiest January and snowiest month since records began in 1937.

Chow has been touting the city’s improved snow response plan after back-to-back storms last winter left many streets and sidewalks unplowed for days, drawing sharp criticism of city operations. She said that a centralized response system and the deployment of extra city staff will ensure faster and more efficient snow clearing this time around.

More than 600 plows were out on roads and sidewalks and more than 1,300 city staff and contractors have been mobilized, Chow said. The city has activated its second major snow event response plan of the year, which includes a parking ban on some major streets as well as streetcar routes.

The Toronto Transit Commission reported major problems on multiple transit routes Monday morning, with subway service shut down between several stations on Lines 1 and 2, and the entire Line 6 — the new Finch West LRT service — shut down for a few hours. Shuttle buses were running instead, with delays due to road conditions also affecting streetcar service across the city.

Meanwhile, GO trains were running on a special schedule in the aftermath of the storm, and commuters were urged to double check the departure times.

Ontario Provincial Police said they had responded to approximately 200 collisions and another 150 calls for vehicles stuck in ditches in the greater Toronto and Hamilton areas over a 24-hour period. In one fatal incident, a driver lost control of their vehicle on a Highway 8 ramp in Kitchener and launched over the snow embankment to a highway below, Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said in a social media post.

Toronto police have also responded to numerous collisions and have urged residents to stay off the roads if possible on Monday while routes remain difficult to navigate.

The Toronto District School Board, the York Catholic District School Board and the Peel District School Board were among several boards to close all of their schools on Monday.

Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of Toronto also closed all of their campuses on Monday, while York University said all in-person activities would be postponed, cancelled or delivered remotely if possible.

In the usually busy downtown core, even popular winter activities such as outdoor skating were not available on Monday due to snow accumulation.

Ethan Jin and Monica Rando said they wanted to go skating at Nathan Phillips Square but the ice rink was closed.

“All of my birthday plans got cancelled,” Rando said of the weekend snowfall. “We can’t go skating, had to cancel dinner plans. So, yeah, it was kind of crazy yesterday. We couldn’t really see anything out there. We walked outside.”

Flight-tracking site FlightAware said more than 600 flights were cancelled at Pearson International Airport in a 24-hour span, and the airport was warning of further delays on Monday as cleanup continued. The airport also said in a social media post that flights to and from Atlantic Canada and certain parts of the United States could be affected due to weather.

Bree and Torrin Crevier, from Thunder Bay, Ont., were among those stranded by the flight cancellations and had no choice but to extend their weekend in Toronto. Still, they took being stuck in the city for another couple of days in stride.

“We’re kind of used to these crazy snowstorms because we get it a lot in Thunder Bay, so it’s no big deal,” Torrin Crevier said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2026.

— With files from Diana Mussina.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press