Winter storm begins in Ottawa with a snowfall warning in effect

Snow is falling in Ottawa as most of eastern Ontario remains under a snowfall warning Wednesday and Thursday, with 15 to 20 centimetres of snow expected as a winter storm moves from west to east.

Only Renfrew County and the Bancroft area are spared from the warnings, which also cover Gatineau.

Snow started fallingearly in the afternoon around Bellevilleand is predicted to end Thursday morning.

Further east, including in Kingston and Ottawa, snow started later in the afternoon and is expected to stretch further into Thursday morning.

In a tweet Wednesday afternoon, OC Transpo listed a number of bus stops that were out of service because of road conditions.

On Wednesday night, the agencywarned riders that transit services would likely be delayed Thursday morning.

And some flights out of Ottawa airport have been cancelled, so make sure to check before heading to the airport.

"There will be a significant impact on rush hour traffic in urban areas. Allow extra time to reach your destination," Environment Canada said.

Ottawa has a parking ban for most people on most streets from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Kingston is piloting a similar ban until March.

Renfrew County and Bancroft have weather advisories for about 10 centimetres of snow Wednesday afternoon and night.

It's been a warmer than average autumn and winter in Ottawa. Much of the snow that has fallen to date has melted.

As of Tuesday, Ottawa's main airport reported about 140 centimetres of snow in the last six weeks or so, butonly 22 centimetres of snow on the ground.

Ottawa has a forecasted high of8 C Wednesday that's expected to rise to5 C by Thursday morning and then fall to15 C Thursday night.

The temperature swings continue: Saturday's forecasted high is 1 C and its forecasted low is18 C. Next week, which is the first week of Winterlude,may see the first daysthis year that daytime highs don't warm past10 C.