Region belted by storm
By Chris Simon

Innisfil and several other municipalities were blanketed by several centimetres of snow, during a storm Sunday. Region belted by storm

Trif Chaitas was planning for a long and slippery drive home Sunday.

The Toronto resident spent Saturday night visiting friends in Innisfil. He stayed until Sunday morning, and was caught in the middle of a winter storm that swept through the region. The shear amount of snow caught him off guard.

"I stayed here overnight with my friend, we partied and I decided to leave the next day so I don't drink and drive," he said laughing, scraping ice from his vehicle's windshield in an Alcona parking lot Sunday morning.

"I was born and raised (in Canada), and I know all about (winter). The people who don't like it should just leave."

Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning for the Barrie- Collingwood-Hillsdale area, dropping several centimetres of snow, andcreating near whiteout conditions in several spots along area roadways.

The storm also affected most of southern and eastern Ontario, dropping up to 30 centimetres of snow in some areas Sunday.

Several reports of thunder and lightening in the Toronto area were also received by Environment Canada.

The storm combined with snowsqualls over Lake Huron to continue dumping snow into the region straight through to Monday.

Conditions have since improved, with a 60 per cent chance of flurries scheduled for today, and an anticipated high of 2 C. A 40 per cent chance of flurries is expected Thursday, with a temperature high of 0 C, according to Environment Canada.

Chaitas says the storm was one of the worst he's seen in several years. However, he planned to take several precautions on the drive home.

"Make sure you have snow tires and just drive slowly," he said. "You've got to watch people on the road as well."