A B.C. mother and her daughter, who now live in Texas, have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Edward Warner, his wife Tania and his seven-year-old step-daughter Ayla, who has autism, were coming back from a friend’s baby shower on Saturday when they went through an ICE checkpoint in Sarita, Texas.

“They asked for our identification, which we provided to them. I provided my driver’s licence. She provided her driver’s licence, work visa and her actual visa. Or passport, I’m sorry,” Warner told Global News.

He said they had been through the checkpoints before, which are permanently located on routes 77 and 281, and had never been asked for identification.

Tania and Ayla were born in Penticton, B.C., Warner is from Texas and they have lived together in Texas for five years.

“They brought Tania inside the building because they wanted to fingerprint her for more information and then about 15 minutes later, they came out and got Ayla and said they needed to fingerprint her for more information as well,” Warner said.

“Then, after about a 40- to 45-minute wait, they came back out and told me that they were not legal to be in the U.S. and that I was free to go.”

He said he has spoken with his wife and she and Ayla have now been moved to the Dilley Detention Centre in Dilley, Texas.

“Which gives them at least a bed to sleep on instead of the hard floor,” Warner said.

Previously, he said they were at the Ursula detention center in McAllen, where conditions were worse.

“They were sleeping on the floor using the floor masks to keep warm because all they had were those like tin space blanket things, and they said the food was terrible, the guards were awful, just the whole experience is gonna be very traumatic for the both of them,” Warner added.

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He said that at least in the Dilley Detention Center, he can give Tania money on her commissary and they can speak on the phone.

“I spoke with our attorney this morning, actually, right before this call and she’s going to start getting the packets together to turn in and we just want to get everything moving along,” Warner said.

“Hopefully, we can get them out of there soon.”

Tania applied to immigration four years ago, but was denied because Warner is a registered sex offender in the state of Texas because of an incident when he was a teenager.

Warner said their lawyer found a way to self-sponsor and his name is not attached to any of his wife’s or stepdaughter’s documents.

6:43
Extended: B.C. woman detained in the U.S. returns home

Immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland, who is based in Vancouver and not directly connected to the case, said that even if Canadians have their paperwork up to date, they are still in jeopardy in the U.S.

“For any reason, the American immigration system can question your documents,” he said.

“Until those questions are answered, you may find yourself in a detention centre.”

Kurland said that if an agent has a question about someone’s paperwork, even if it is perfectly in order, the agent needs time to resolve that question.

“What’s different is that in Canada, we don’t have immigration checks after you cross the border or get out of the airport,” he said.

“In America, because of the heightened sensitivity to immigration issues, they have introduced domestic immigration checks. So even though this family was not entering the United States from Mexico, but was travelling within the United States, they were subject to American immigration questioning, resulting in detention.”

Kurland said it’s not uncommon and an agent has the right to incarcerate someone and place them in immigration detention until the agent is satisfied that there is confirmation of valid immigration documents.

“It’s a heartache to see a seven-year-old autistic child needlessly detained in an immigration pen that has been known to cage children in detention, and PTSD as an outcome would not be uncommon for that child,” he added.

“We do not do this in Canada. We do not detain seven-year-old autistic kids in immigration detention without solid reasoning. If this family is correct, their immigration paperwork was 100 per cent-a-OK, someone’s got a lot of explaining to do on the American side.”

2:36
Family of Vancouver woman detained after entering U.S. raise alarm

Warner said that later on Friday, he spoke to Tania on the phone and she said she was told she had overstayed her stay and that is why she is being held.

He disputes that because he says her case is still being processed and she has refused to sign a document that ICE gave her that would keep her in detention for another 20 days.

Warner does not know what implications that might have for his wife and stepdaughter’s detention.

In a statement to Global News, Global Affairs Canada said that “Global Affairs is aware of multiple cases of Canadians currently or previously in immigration-related detention in the U.S and has received requests for information and assistance from individuals and their family members.”

Warner just hopes his wife and stepdaughter are able to come home soon.

“I know they have beds now,” he said. “I know that there’s a little school in there and there’s some toys, other kids, stuff like that. So it’ll be all right for Ayla.”

Kim Lameront was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND) following an injury during brain surgery. Months later, she still feels left in the dark.

“I wasn’t really told how to navigate this. It was very isolating,” she said. “There was a gap, and while I was in recreational therapy, I was asking my therapist what there is for support, and she said there is nothing.”

Recent studies are showing women are more likely to develop brain diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s, and not just because women live longer.

“There’s at least 45 per cent of the risk factors for dementia that we have some control over. And unfortunately, women tend to have less control over some of those things, and they’re more at risk for some of those, including things like depression,” said Dr. Allison Sekuler, Sandra Rotman Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Chief Scientist at Baycrest.

FND is also two to three times more commonly found in women.

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“For a long time, it was sort of treated as, oh, this is just another thing that women are making up. And it is real. It’s just challenging to diagnose,” said Sekuler, talking about FND.

“It’s not something that you can see on a brain scan because the brain is functionally intact, but the wiring in the brain isn’t working as well.”

With little research and awareness out there, there is also a lack of support.

Lameront took matters into her own hands and created a support organization called Healing Horizons where people can access resources and coping strategies.

“When I was first diagnosed and researching, I found out that FND is actually one of the most common disorders that neurologists diagnose, but why doesn’t anybody know what FND is? So, the awareness needs to get out there.”

Whether it’s FND or Alzheimer’s, there are things people can do to help improve brain health, but if somebody thinks something is wrong, it’s best to get it checked out.

“I think we need to really get the word out about that and to make sure that women know, and men as well. If you feel something is wrong, get it checked out,” said Sekuler.

Watch above for more on FND and women’s brain health.

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A fire chief of a Saskatchewan village, representing a group of volunteers that battled some of Saskatchewan’s destructive blazes last summer, says the province’s latest budget is not providing enough funding for proactive measures ahead of this year’s wildfire season.

“They’ve introduced the marshal service, but where’s the funding to increase the fire side of things?” Jim Arnold, fire chief of Candle Lake, told Global News.

In the province’s budget announced Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) will receive $138.5 million, up $19.6 million from the year before.

But for Arnold, who heads a group of around 21 volunteer firefighters, this amount is not enough.

“I would think it would be better if the SPSA were more proactive,” he said. “Doing things like fire breaks around communities, doing things like fuel management.”

In the budget, the province says last year’s wildfire season cost the government $392 million in extra expenses, accounting for the largest portion of the $970 million in over-budget spending.

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Finance Minister Jim Reiter says last year’s wildfire season “was an anomaly,” adding that his government is optimistic it will not happen again.

“But if it does, we’ll respond accordingly,” Reiter said Friday at a luncheon with the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s not like if we need more money, we won’t spend it. We certainly did last year, and if it happens, we will again.”

When asked about proactive wildfire spending, Reiter pointed to an increase in the SPSA’s capital funding as part of a four-year commitment to purchase four repurposed water bombers, adding that one is expected to come onstream this year.

The SPSA unveiled its plans to purchase these airtankers back in April 2024.

The province is also doubling its volunteer first responders tax credit from $3,000 to $6,000.

While Arnold supports this, he says he wanted to see more support for volunteer fire departments dealing with rising equipment costs and the need to meet provincial regulations.

“The cost of a single fire engine is now a million dollars. You know, the cost to outfit one firefighter is pushing $5,000 now,” Arnold said.

The province is also putting $2 million towards replacing infrastructure in parks lost to wildfires.

While Arnold says he does not know how this year’s wildfire season will pan out, his volunteer department is preparing with additional funding from his village’s council.

“The bottom line is, we need help funding fire departments,” he said.

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Canada’s Jewish communities are facing the “realistic possibility” of extremist violence in the coming months, according to federal intelligence officials.

According to an internal report prepared by the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC) and obtained by Global News, Jewish Canadians — including public officials — are facing a “heightened violent extremism threat environment” amid the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

The document noted that the nationwide terrorism threat level remains unchanged at medium, and the possibility of violence targeting public officials remains low.

However, in assessing open-source information, ITAC judged that some form of an attack against Jewish communities is possible.

“The most likely scenario of an attack targeting the Jewish community is a lone actor using unsophisticated methods against easily accessible targets,” the document, first reported by the Globe and Mail on Friday, read.

“Extremists will leverage the Middle East conflict to justify attacks on the Jewish community in Canada, and seek to incite violence. Violent rhetoric, hate crime and criminal intimidation of the Jewish community, including public officials, will very likely increase as the conflict continues.”

0:34
Iran threatens tourist sites worldwide amid Middle East conflict

The unclassified document, prepared March 18, added that Canadian Jewish communities face a number of threats that don’t rise to the level of terrorism — including criminal harassment, intimidation and vandalism.

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Those threats were already elevated compared with other religious groups before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. While the joint surprise bombing campaign killed several key members of the Iranian leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranians continue to fight back.

“A body of media reporting indicates that over the past nine months, the constituency offices of public officials have been vandalized due to their identity or perceived support for Israeli actions in the Middle East,” the document reads.

“Jewish public officials and certain non-Jewish public officials who are perceived to be representative of Judaism or Israel have also been targeted by violent rhetoric and non-credible online threats.”

ITAC added that public officials who identify as Jewish and have “additional intersectionality factors” — such as being women or members of the LGBTQ2 community — “may face an even more elevated threat.”

1:56
Auschwitz survivor warns of rising antisemitism on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Statistics Canada data indicates that Jewish Canadians are more likely to be the target of hate crimes than any other religious group in the country, and the number of police-reported hate crimes targeting those communities has risen sharply in recent years amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

“What’s very alarming and disturbing is … when Canadians who are angry about Israel, about Israel’s actions, blame Jews individually or collectively here for what Israel’s doing,” Carleton University political scientist Mira Sucharov told The Canadian Press last week.

Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, told a virtual forum earlier this month that the Israeli government wants to see “significant change” in how Canada deals with antisemitism, going so far as to say democratic rights should be curtailed to address the issue.

“It is hard for a liberal person to think that we have to limit other people’s freedoms so that our freedom will be protected, but that’s where we are right now,” Moed said.

4:04
Michigan synagogue attack: Car packed with explosives rams school, suspect killed

At a Hanukkah event last December, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada has a “necessity to act” on rising hate targeting Jewish communities in the country.

Earlier this month, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced $10 million from the Canada Community and Security Program (CCSP) for increased security at Jewish community centres, schools, synagogues, daycares and overnight camps.

In a statement Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) noted that Iranian intelligence services and proxy actors have targeted individuals in Canada they view as threats to their regime.

“In more than one case this involved detecting, investigating, and disrupting potentially lethal threats against individuals in Canada,” the agency wrote.

“CSIS has increased its operational efforts related to potential Iranian state-directed and violent extremist activity in Canada. CSIS has also increased engagement with affected communities, providing them with as much information as possible.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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Quebec Premier François Legault has dismissed concerns by the Ontario premier over electric vehicle mandates in Canada, saying Quebec already adjusted its targets to reflect the new reality of the North American auto market.

Legault’s office responded on Friday to letters sent by Ontario Premier Doug Ford earlier this week to Legault and British Columbia Premier David Eby asking them to drop their electric vehicle sales targets. The mandates, Ford said, are hurting the country’s auto sector and pushing jobs and investments into the United States.

But while Quebec understands Ontario’s worries, the province has “already adjusted to the new North American context,” Legault spokesman Ewan Sauves said in a text message to The Canadian Press, referring to the Trump administration’s deregulation policies and tariffs on Canada’s auto sector.

Quebec lifted its ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars that would have taken effect in 2035. Instead, the government’s target is for 90 per cent of new vehicle sales in 2035 to be hybrid or electric, down from 100 per cent fully electric.

“Quebec is making choices that reflect its own economic, environmental, and energy reality,” Sauves said.

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Ford’s letters come as Ontario’s auto sector struggles under U.S. tariffs imposed to force vehicle manufacturers to move their production to the United States. Electric vehicle mandates are only compounding the hardship of Ontario’s car sector — a major economic driver for Canada that employs nearly 100,000 people, he said.

“Unfortunately, existing EV sales mandates in Canada are making our auto sector less competitive and threatening the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Canadian workers, particularly since the U.S. has rolled back its federal EV policies,” Ford said in his letters.

Soon after taking office in 2025, Trump issued an executive order revoking a non-binding goal set by Biden that EVs make up half of new cars sold by 2030. The order also seeks to terminate a federal exemption that allows California to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.

In the fall, Quebec and B.C. scaled back or dropped their previous goals of having all new vehicle sales be zero emissions in 2035, but Ford believes they should go further, saying in his letter the provinces’ EV rules create a “fragmented” market.

At a news conference Wednesday, the Ontario premier said he is asking them to get rid of all “environmental requests” on cars. “If we keep doing this … greenhouse gases and everything and the other guy south of the border … gets rid of everything, how do you compete?” Ford said in Kenilworth, Ont.

The federal government also eliminated its EV sales mandate earlier this year in favour of stricter emissions standards for the auto sector.

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From lifting tires and pulling fire trucks to carrying the most weight, competing in the World’s Strongest Firefighting competition takes incredible strength.

“My whole goal was to have minimal mistakes, try my best and have consistent performance across all the events. That’s what wins competitions at the end of the day in Strongman, is consistency,” Evan Yaworski, who’s a firefighter with the Royal Canadian Air Force and based in Winnipeg, said.

The Saskatoon-born man lifted his way to the top of the podium earlier this month, clinching the title of the World’s Strongest Firefighter. He became the first Canadian to do so.

“I think it’s pretty neat to be the first person to be able to do this for Canada,” Yaworski said.

The World’s Strongest Firefighter is held at The Arnold, an annual multi-sport event in Ohio consisting of bodybuilding and strongman competitions.

“We have firefighters competing from around the world. This year we had over 150 registered athletes,” John Byrne, the World’s Strongest Firefighter co-founder, said.

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The competition first started after the catastrophic wildfires in California in 2018. It was created by Arnold Schwarzenegger to honour first responders and raise money for a number of non-profits.

“To date, we have raised half a million dollars towards firefighter charities helping widows,” Byrne said.

The World’s Strongest Firefighter is a unique strength competition because all weight classes and genders compete together.

“It takes the Wilks system, and it takes pound for pound who the strongest firefighter is,” Byrne said.

That’s why Yaworski, who is classified as a lightweight, was still able to win it all. He coached himself throughout the entire training process.

“I’ll do my own programming and if I’m stumped or need a different perspective on things, I’ll talk to people with more experience,” Yaworski said.

Yaworski works tirelessly on his passion, something that goes hand in hand with his career.

“It’s expected you’re in shape as a firefighter, because at the end of the day you need to be reliable in a physically and mentally stressful job,” Yaworski said.

1:54
21 athletes compete for nationals spot at Winnipeg strongman event

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Canada may have the ability to substantially raise its GDP and add thousands of new jobs by building more oil pipeline infrastructure, a new study suggests.

According to the report from ATB Financial, Canada could increase its total oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day — an increase of one third — and generate an average $31.4 billion to Canada’s GDP every year for the next decade. Doing this could increase Canada’s GDP by 1.1 per cent every year.

In 2025, GDP averaged 1.7 per cent overall, and after the two previous years each grew by about two per cent.

The ATB research report, titled, “The GDP Payoff of Additional Pipeline Capacity,” was released Wednesday in collaboration with Studio.Energy, a Calgary-based energy research and analytics company.

The report said the calculations were based on a scenario where Canada financially commits to several pipeline projects that are either currently being evaluated or in the process of being approved.

“New energy infrastructure doesn’t yield just a marginal gain for Canada’s economy — it’s a structural shift that will pay ongoing export dividends,” said Mark Parsons, vice-president and chief economist at ATB Financial in the release.

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“Expanding our export capacity would fundamentally improve our national economic health and global standing at a time when Canada needs it most.”

2:54
Carney says potential Pacific oil pipeline would be ‘twin with the pathways project’

This comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney aims to double Canadian exports to countries other than the U.S. over the next decade amid the trade war and U.S. tariffs, and as the war in Iran jeopardizes global oil supplies and caused energy prices to surge.

That theoretical increase in oil exports under the report’s proposals would also generate 112,000 new jobs over the next decade, the report said, which would peak at 136,100 during the initial construction phase.

Many of these jobs would include those of general labour, engineering, steel, equipment, and services across the supply chain.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said earlier in March that the Iran war’s impact on global energy markets underscores the need to build a pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast.

A separate report released earlier in March from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said exports of Canadian crude oil moving through the port in 2025 increased 95 per cent from the year before, and that was months before the Iran conflict began.

The same report said the Trans Mountain expansion helped fuel the rise in oil exports off Canada’s West Coast, with most of the oil shipments going to markets like China and South Korea.

To get these pipeline projects built and filled with the higher amount of oil would also require a large amount of funding, the report said.

“Building the pipelines is estimated to require cumulative investment of $41 billion, while ensuring there is enough oil production to fill them would require an additional $100+ billion in upstream investment — more than double the pipeline cost — generating long-term returns through export revenues, royalties, and taxes,” the report said.

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project completed in 2024, and cost the federal government a total of nearly $35 billion to complete. That included the $4.5 billion to acquire the project from Kinder Morgan in 2018.

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The promise of $10-a-day child care is supposed to make raising a young family more affordable. But for some Saskatchewan parents, a gap in the program’s rollout will mean a bigger hit to their budget than expected.

The issue is that not all children turning six this year will qualify equally under the province’s renewed $10-a-day child-care agreement, leaving some families on the hook for thousands of dollars in costs they didn’t plan for.

The challenge comes down to timing.

Last year, the provincial government renegotiated its $10-a-day child-care funding deal with the federal government.

The current deal, which expires March 31, does not cover children who turn six while in kindergarten. The new agreement will, but it does not take effect until April 1. That means children who turn six before then will not be eligible under the existing agreement, and do not qualify for the updated one.

Tina Lloyd thought they were going to be covered until the end of kindergarten under the new deal. She said their child-care provider thought the same. But her daughter turns six on March 31 — one day before the new agreement begins.

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“It was exciting and a relief to know our $10 a day would be covered, at least what we thought when it was announced back in November,” Lloyd said.

“It’s just unfortunate that less than 24 hours is going to cost us thousands.”

Now, Lloyd and her family are scrambling to adjust to the unexpected expense.

“I don’t know who has an extra $2,000 laying around, just with the cost of living the way it is,” she said. “And that is what our child-care provider thought as well.”

George Cressman only recently found out her daughter would not be covered. She received a letter from her daycare centre letting her know her daughter, who just turned six, wouldn’t be covered, either. She said the timing left her with little room to plan.

“It was a struggle even to get to the position we’re in now,” she said. “And then having the rug pulled out from underneath you, with not even enough time to decide whether you can afford the care that it was last month.”

Education Minister Everett Hindley said he understands the frustration, but said his hands are tied.

“I would compare it to other contracts that an individual or a family may sign; if you are able to negotiate a better interest rate on your mortgage, that isn’t retroactive, unfortunately. It takes effect on the date of the new agreement,” Hindley said.

He said the provincial government worked hard to ensure the program benefited as many families as possible.

Either way, daycare providers are asking the government to step up.

“I got the feeling because it’s not a huge number of kids, that this isn’t as important as it should be. And I would ask what that magic number is of kids getting left behind,” said Cara Werner, the executive director of Dream Big Child Care

For Werner, and the parents affected, that number is zero.

They’re keeping fingers crossed the province will come through for them.

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When Fawn Parker moved to Fredericton in 2020, she said she immediately got onto the family doctor waitlist.

She joined hundreds of others in the province already in the queue, and a growing percentage of New Brunswickers who don’t have a family physician they can call their own.

When she became pregnant four years later in November, 2024, she still didn’t have a primary care provider. That became a problem.

Roughly two months into her pregnancy, Parker experienced bleeding, and visited a hospital where she received an ultrasound.

“I asked about what we were seeing on the scan which to me, based on my research, wasn’t measuring up to where I was timeline-wise and he told me that I was just wrong about my timing, it happened all the time, and that we were on the verge of seeing something very positive,” she said.

It would take two more weeks before doctors confirmed what she said she already knew: she was having a miscarriage.

She said she then went to hospitals three times in attempts to access surgery to treat it, but she said she was denied the surgery twice and couldn’t reach someone the third time.

Instead, she took two rounds of misoprostol, sometimes known as one of two abortion pills, prescribed by an emergency room doctor.

“[I felt] just very trapped and claustrophobic. It was, there was pregnancy in me. It wasn’t viable, but I couldn’t seem to get it out,” she said.

After taking the pills, she said she continued to bleed for up to two months before the bleeding intensified.

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‘Something had really started to go wrong’

“I woke up one morning and I had a fever of between 103, 104, which was a very bad sign. I went to the hospital, and on my way home from the hospital I started having a seizure in the car,” she said.

She was given antibiotics and recovered, but now she said she lives with long-term impacts.

“One of the big ones was I tried to get pregnant again for over a year and was unsuccessful, so obviously I can’t say that I’m infertile, but medically that meets the criteria for infertility, 12 tries,” she said.

If she had a primary care provider, Parker believes she would have had someone to ask questions to during her pregnancy, and now after.

“I think that was what was really missing was every day I would sort of confront the question of what am I supposed to be doing? Where am I suppose to go to get help,” she said.

Growing family doctor waitlist

She’s one of a growing number of New Brunswickers without a family doctor — according to provincial numbers, 27.5 per cent of the population is not connected to a doctor or nurse practitioner — up from 22.8 per cent in 2025.

An Angus Reid poll found in December 2025, Atlantic Canada had some of the highest percentages of people who report not having family doctors in the country.

New Brunswick’s health minister, John Dornan said in a scrum on Wednesday that he feels bad about Parker’s situation.

“This is the primary purpose of our government, to give people access to care so we don’t hear tales like this,” he said.

‘Easy’ for people to fall through the cracks

Dr. Stephanie Cooper, a high-risk obstetrician and fetal medicine doctor at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, said miscarriages can be treated three ways: a surgery, what’s commonly known as the abortion pill, or waiting for the body to naturally pass the pregnancy.

But the third option can take months.

Dr. Cooper says people who take the pills need follow up because surgery can sometimes still be required to avoid the risk of infection.

“More and more people are going to these sort of walk-in clinic style medicine where it’s very episodic and you don’t have that continuity,” she said.

“It’s very easy for people if they don’t have that sort of coordinated approach to sort of fall through the cracks.”

And the need for family doctors isn’t just impacting pregnancies.

Fredericton resident Mackenzie Roherty said he’s been waiting 9 years for a family doctor — and that’s become an issue after developing unexplained swelling and sores on the inside of his mouth.

“Every time I would try to talk or eat or something like that, it just kind of flares up. It’s like a giant spike as if I’m like burning my tongue or something like that and then I have to stop,” he said.

“Without having a doctor to kind of suggest possible tests or other things, there’s really no way I can find out what’s wrong.”

As for Parker, she now has PTSD.

She and her husband have stopped trying for children.

“I just can’t imagine having a pregnancy with the healthcare system right now,” she said.

After months of persistent snow, deep freezes and Arctic blasts, many Ontarians are feeling the fatigue of a winter that won’t let go.

According to Global News chief meteorologist Anthony Farnell, it’s not just the cold or snowfall totals that stand out, it’s how long it’s all lasted.

“It’s definitely not your imagination,” Farnell said. “It has been a long go across southern Ontario.”

Snow arrived before Christmas across much of southern Ontario, followed by weeks of persistent lake-effect snowfall through January.

That pattern, combined with multiple deep freezes and freezing rain, kept snow on the ground for months, with little opportunity for a sustained thaw.

“We had that spell of lake effect where it was almost just consistent, day after day,” Farnell said. “Then those cold snaps just solidified whatever was out there.”

In cities like Toronto, this winter is now ranking among their snowiest on record, while others, including London, didn’t break records but still felt the strain of a prolonged season.

Toronto was buried under roughly 80 centimetres of snow over just a few days in late January after a powerful system brought record-breaking totals across the region.

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Environment Canada reported 61 cm fell in downtown Toronto in a day, which is among the highest totals ever recorded in the core, while 46 cm was measured at Toronto Pearson airport, marking its snowiest day on record.

One of the defining features of this winter was the extent of ice coverage across the Great Lakes.

Lake Erie reached about 97 per cent ice coverage at one point, while ice built up across Lake Huron and Georgian Bay before shifting later in the season.

That ice coverage directly influenced snowfall patterns.

“When ice is there, you don’t have the same lake-effect snow,” Farnell explained.

Despite brief stretches of mild weather earlier in March, Farnell says winter isn’t finished.

“There’s still a lot of Arctic air across Northern Canada, so it doesn’t take much for that to make its way south,” he said.

Despite the calendar turning to spring Friday, Farnell says these circumstances will cause winter conditions to linger on a bit longer.

According to the Weather Network, a system is expected to move through the province in the coming days and will bring heavy snow, icy precipitation and hazardous travel conditions.

The Great Lakes winter storm is expected to slam parts of Ontario with strong winds and potentially bury some communities under as much as 50 centimetres of snow, despite the start of spring being just days away.

“We’re going to be fooled at least two or three more times,” Farnell added, noting that a true spring warm-up likely won’t arrive until May.

Looking ahead, Farnell says this winter doesn’t offer a clear signal for spring or summer, with lake temperatures and ice coverage currently near average.

Instead, attention is shifting to a developing El Niño, which could shape weather patterns in the months ahead.

“If it becomes a strong El Niño, you typically see a jet stream farther north … warmer, wetter conditions,” he said.

That could mean a hotter summer, along with more frequent thunderstorms driven by passing cold fronts and lake breezes.

Farnell also points to record-breaking heat already developing in the southwestern United States — an early-season “heat dome” that could expand northward.

“Once it gets hot, it can feed on itself,” he said. “Each day gets a little drier, a little hotter.”

But for now, Ontarians may need to stay patient as winter lingers a little longer.

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