Everything you need to know about the storm

It's a bad storm

The snow started in Ottawa yesterday afternoon and steadily fell all night long.

Environment Canada is predicting we will see 25 to35 centimetres total before the snow changes over to flurries, which should happen later this morning.

Schools are closed

All of the Ottawa area'sschool boards took the rare move ofclosingschools on Wednesday, some of them making the call the night before.

It's common for buses to be cancelled when winter weather hits, but a full closureof schools is not.

Many post-secondary schools have also cancelled classes for the day before reopening campuses this evening.

Kingston's schools are open.

Federal workers asked towork from home

Kids aren't the only ones who might get a snow day today, as the federal government was encouraging any workers who could to work from home as well.

The city was also doing the same for its workers and Wednesday's city council meeting was cancelled.

Garbage pickup delayed

Ottawa's garbage, recycling and compost pickup is not happening today, bumping the pickup schedule back a day for the rest of the week.

Gatineau has postponed today's waste and garbage pickup until tomorrow and pushed back oversize waste collection two weeks.

Ottawa-Gatineau and other communities have cancelled or delayed meetings and services because of the weather.

Here's a full list of some of the closures due to the storm today:

• Blizzard cancels parking, classes, waste pickup, meetings

Digging out

Ottawa and Gatineau extended their overnightparking bans through Wednesday nightso crews could clear with as few delays as possible.

The city was warning that it could take some time to get to residential streets, with major roads the bigger priority.

Residents were also asked to clear out fire hydrants near their homes.