Carlton Carr was taking shelter from the non-stop snowfall under a store’s front awning as he waited for the Dundas Street West bus on Thursday late morning.
Even though Carr was two-and-a-half hours into his commute from Keele Street and Finch Avenue to Etobicoke, he admitted he doesn’t mind the blanket of white.
"It’s beautiful, but (the city) needs more man power to clean (the streets)," he told Metroland Media Toronto.
Not long after, the bus zoomed past him without stopping.
"Did you see that," he asked a little frustrated. "I guess I’m going to be late for work."
Shopkeepers busily shovelled the entrances to their stores as some customers and pedestrians braved the first major snowfall of the season.
People took refuge in coffee shops and restaurants. The consensus: travel times were almost double today than they are on a typical non-snowy day.
Olivia Murray was waiting for the Junction bus with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
"This weather makes my day a lot longer," Murray said. "We live two blocks from the bus stop, but Lydia likes to play in the snow. She gets excited."
Murray said she likes the snow – for a little while.
"I like it for a week and then I want it to go away," she said.
The majority of motorists took their time maneuvering city streets. A couple of snowplows cleared snow in the Junction, but an hour or so later, the roads had accumulated a significant amount of snow again.
Snow is expected to be heavy at times for much of today, said Environment Canada. Toronto should expect to see as much as 10 to 20 centimetres of snow. The temperature is holding steady at minus five degrees Celsius. Periods of snow are expected to end after midnight.
Friday’s forecast is cloudy with a mix of sun and cloud in the afternoon with a high of plus one.