Toronto Road Conditions and Driving Weather

16 current reports on the interstates around Toronto, including 1 full closure. The 3 most serious are listed below. Always check with Ontario 511 before setting off.

• Road closed

  Closure on HWY 401 Westbound

  Nightly Construction (Cancelled for Today) on HWY 401 Westbound Express between RENFORTH DR, Toronto and WINSTON CHURCHILL BLVD, Mississauga. ALL LANES CLOSED.

  Westbound • ON • Until Sep 23, 9:00 AM Details

• Lanes blocked

  Road work on HWY 401 Eastbound

  Continuous Construction on HWY 401 Eastbound On-ramp at PROGRESS AVE, Toronto. ALL LANES CLOSED.

  Eastbound • ON • Until Oct 10, 3:59 AM Details

• Lanes blocked

  Road work on HWY 401 Westbound

  Nightly Construction on HWY 401 Westbound On-ramp at BROCK ROAD, Pickering. ALL LANES CLOSED.

  Westbound • ON • Until Sep 27, 9:30 AM Details

Routes out of Toronto

The five ways out of the city that matter in winter, with the distance and the clear-road time measured over openrouteservice, and what each one does to you when the weather turns.

• West on Highway 401 to Kitchener and London — 198 km, about 2 h 30 min on a clear road. Out through Mississauga and Milton onto the Waterloo moraine and into the squall belt west of Woodstock, where the road the city left dry closes for a whiteout. Conditions along the whole of Highway 401.
• East on Highway 401 to Oshawa and Kingston — 270 km, about 3 h 10 min on a clear road. The Highway of Heroes along the lake to Trenton and Belleville, and the Lake Ontario squalls that closed it between Belleville and Trenton on 27 January 2026. Conditions along the whole of Highway 401.
• North on Highway 400 to Barrie — 112 km, about 1 h 25 min on a clear road. The cottage-country freeway, and the snowbelt off Georgian Bay from Barrie north: the snow starts at the Holland Marsh on a day the city has rain.
• West on the QEW to Hamilton and Niagara Falls — 129 km, about 1 h 40 min on a clear road. Round the head of Lake Ontario over the Burlington Skyway, closed to high-sided vehicles in a wind, and along the lake to the border.
• East to Ottawa by the 401 and Highway 416 — 461 km, about 5 h 10 min on a clear road. The 401 to Kingston and Highway 416 north through the snowbelt east of Kingston to the capital, into a colder, snowier climate than the one you left. Conditions along the whole of Highway 401.

What makes winter driving hard in Toronto

Not the snow, which is modest: Toronto Pearson averages 108 cm a year on 44 days, with 6 cm on the ground on a typical January day, on Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1981–2010 normals. The hazard is the transition. January averages −5.5 °C with 18 days that never rise above freezing and five freezing-rain days between December and February, so the city spends the winter crossing zero: rain that freezes on the Gardiner and the DVP, thaw that refreezes overnight on the ramps, and the first real snowfall of the season stopping a road system built for volume, not for snow.

The lake helps and hurts. Lake Ontario keeps the city a few degrees milder than Ottawa and turns much of its snow to rain, and then, when cold air crosses the open water in December and January, sends lake-effect bands onto the eastern suburbs and the 401 east of Pickering that the west end never sees.

The freeways are the Province's. Highway 401, the 427, the 404 and the 400 are provincial highways maintained by Ontario's contractors and reported on Ontario 511; the City's plan covers the Gardiner, the Don Valley Parkway and the streets.

Snow and ice by month in Toronto

Thirty-year normals from Environment and Climate Change Canada's station at Toronto Pearson International Airport, 20 km from the city centre. Averages for 1981–2010; a normal month, not this month.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010, station TORONTO LESTER B. PEARSON INT'L A (6158733), 173 m, through the MSC GeoMet API.

Municipal snow clearing in Toronto

The City of Toronto plows its expressways — the Gardiner and the Don Valley Parkway — first, from 2.5 cm of snow with a two-hour target; arterial roads and transit routes from 5 cm in six to eight hours; collector roads from 8 cm in eight hours; and local streets from 8 cm in fourteen. Salting on all of them starts when snow first accumulates. The outcome the City promises is graded: bare pavement on the expressways, centre bare — 2.5 m cleared down the middle — or safe and passable elsewhere.

Parking bans

After a major storm the City removes the windrows to snow storage and melter sites, and while it does, parking is prohibited wherever temporary orange no-parking signs are posted until the signs come down.

The current plan, the map of routes and any ban in force are on toronto.ca, winter maintenance ↗, which is where this section was read.

Provincial rules that apply in Toronto

Ontario has no winter tire law. The province recommends them — its winter driving page says they improve traction in frost, snow and ice and shorten braking distances by as much as 25% — and requires insurers to offer a discount to drivers who fit them, and that is the whole of the rule. Studded tires are the exception: legal on vehicles registered in Northern Ontario, not in the south.

The full rule, with its sources, is on the Ontario page. What is closed right now is on Ontario 511 ↗.

Related roads

Toronto Winter Driving FAQ

Does Toronto get much snow?

Less than its reputation: Toronto Pearson averages 108 cm a year on 44 days, against Ottawa's 176 cm and London's 194, and a typical January day has 6 cm on the ground. What the city gets more of is freezing rain and freeze-thaw — January averages −5.5 °C, and the roads cross zero all winter.

Who plows Highway 401 in Toronto?

The Province of Ontario, through its maintenance contractors, reported on Ontario 511 — the 401, 427, 404 and 400 are provincial highways. The City of Toronto plows the Gardiner Expressway, the Don Valley Parkway and the streets, expressways first from 2.5 cm of snow.

Do I need winter tires in Toronto?

Not by law — Ontario has no winter tire requirement — but every insurer must offer a discount if you fit them. Studded tires are not allowed on a vehicle registered in Toronto or anywhere in Southern Ontario.

When does Toronto plow residential streets?

After 8 cm of snow, with a fourteen-hour target once the expressways, arterials and collectors are done; salting starts when snow first accumulates. The standard on a local street is safe and passable, not bare pavement.

How long does Toronto to London take on the 401 in winter?

About 200 km and 2 h 30 min on a clear road as openrouteservice measures it to downtown London. West of Woodstock the road enters the Lake Huron squall belt, and a snow squall warning there means the time is whatever the OPP say it is.