Photo: The Canadian Press

A person clears snow from around a car during a snowstorm in Montreal, Sunday, February 16, 2025. A winter storm continues to strengthen in parts of Ontario and Quebec on Sunday as heavy snowfall is expected to blanket the provinces with a second big storm in just four days. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

A winter storm that blanketed much of Ontario and Quebec this weekend has tapered off, leaving residents to dig themselves out from under a huge pile of snow — a process that in Toronto's case could take up to three weeks, city officials said Monday.

Environment Canada said a winter storm warning that had been issued Saturday for the Toronto area was lifted on Sunday night after snowfall eased off in the afternoon. Snowfall had tapered off in the Ottawa and Montreal areas by Monday morning.

The storm led to major travel headaches on the long weekend, cancelling dozens of flights out of major airports and causing myriad transit disruptions.

Trucking away the large windrows of plowed snow that are restricting traffic and blocking sidewalks could take three weeks, Toronto officials said at a news conference on Monday. The city hasn't had to deal with this much snow since a storm in January 2022.

It can take 10 hours to clear a one-kilometre stretch of road, officials said. A loader or truck-mounted snow blower slowly unloads the snow into a dump truck, which then carries it to a city storage or melting site.

Hospitals, main streets, transit stops, school bus loading zones and sidewalks are priority areas.

"Toronto is a big city and this work takes a lot of time," Barbara Gray, the city's transportation services general manager, said Monday.

But staff are trying to move "as quickly and efficiently" as possible, she said.

Officials warned drivers to avoid parking on designated snow routes or where temporary orange signs have been set up to indicate snow removal is planned. They said around 2,300 vehicles had been ticketed.

Ottawa received just over 70 centimetres of snow since Wednesday evening, said Jake Gravelle, a manager in the city's public works department.

"Holy snow, Batman! It seemed like it was never going to stop," began a winter operations update sent on Monday morning.

"Crews are doing their best, however, we recognize snowbanks are high, sidewalks are still snow covered and roads are narrow. Cleanup will take several days to complete and it remains challenging to get around the city today."

Gravelle said Ottawa would be preparing selective snow removal operations throughout the city. A winter weather parking ban was lifted as of 7 a.m. on Monday morning.

In Montreal, which saw a similar volume of snow, English school boards and French-language school service centres announced that classes would be cancelled at primary and high schools on Monday.

Air traffic returned to normal levels as of Monday morning after delays caused by the storm, said Nav Canada, the body that runs the country’s civil air navigation.

It said passengers should check the status of their flight with their airline.

Blustery conditions persisted elsewhere in the region.

Environment Canada said a snow squall warning remained in effect Monday for communities along the Bruce Peninsula and in the Georgian Bay area, as another 30 to 60 centimetres was expected to fall starting Monday morning and lasting into Tuesday.

The agency warned that snow brought on by the lake effect could bring near zero visibility during snowfall.