Icy roads cancel buses, delay exams

A night of freezing rain means all school buses are cancelled in eastern Ontario and some exams have been delayed.

This round of freezing rain warnings has ended in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. The Ottawa International Airport reported six hours of freezing drizzle starting Wednesday afternoon, then seven more hours of freezing rain ending overnight.

Exams have explicitly been cancelled for both English school boards in Ottawa, plus the Limestone board in the Kingston area. Each say exams will be delayed a day.

The Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario asks students with exams to check with their schools, while the Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board asks these students to check their D2L portals.

Other boards either have not posted about exams by 6:30 a.m. or did not mention them in their weather updates. Families can always reach out to schools or boards for specific information.

School boards and service centres in western Quebec say buses are running and there may be delays. The Western Québec School Board specifically says buses will not be going down unsafe roads.

Friday warning for western Quebec

Environment Canada has another freezing rain warning in place for Friday in western Quebec outside of Gatineau. Forecasters expect about five to 10 more millimetres.

Ottawa has a chance of freezing rain in Thursday night's forecast and then freezing rain or rain Friday.

The region's had a warmer January than normal and that's at the forefront this weekend. Daytime highs are forecast at or above zero Thursday through Sunday.

Sunday night's low is then expected to be around –20 C.

The Rideau Canal Skateway temporarily closed Wednesday night until further notice to help protect its ice.