Freezing drizzle advisory that caused some Hamilton, Niagara schools to close now lifted
CBC News | Posted: February 6, 2025 12:32 PM | Last Updated: 8 hours ago
Some daycares, city recreation programs also closed after advisory issued early Thursday morning
Hamilton public as well as Niagara public and Catholic schools are closed Thursday due to "inclement weather" after a freezing rain advisory was issued for the regions in the morning.
Other centres, including Neighbour 2 Neighbour and Compass Community Health in Hamilton, also said they would be closed Thursday due to weather.
By early afternoon, the advisory from Environment Canada had been lifted for the area.
Earlier in the day, the Hamilton Catholic school board said its schools, adult education centres and school-based childcare centres remained open but transportation for students is cancelled.
The District School Board of Niagara said, on X, it's "decision was made out of an abundance of caution for keeping our school communities and staff safe."
French Catholic school board MonAvenir said transport was closed by the following schools were open: Monseigneur-de-Laval Catholic Elementary School, École secondaire Académie catholique Mère-Teresa and École élémentaire catholique Notre-Dame.
MonAvenir schools in the Niagara region were closed, including École élémentaire catholique Immaculée-Conception, École élémentaire catholique Notre-Dame-de-la-Jeunesse, École élémentaire catholique Saint-Antoine, École élémentaire catholique Saint-François-d'Assise, École élémentaire catholique Saint-Joseph and École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Marguerite-Bourgeoys.
MonAvenir said the following schools were also closed: École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Marguerite-Bourgeoys in Brantford, École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Marie in Simcoe and the French Catholic high school, École secondaire catholique Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf in Welland.
The French public school board, Viamonde, said Niagara Region schools École élémentaire LaMarsh, École élémentaire L'Héritage, École élémentaire Nouvel Horizon and École Franco-Niagara were closed. The Bureaux administratifs de Welland is closed as well.
All Halton public and Catholic schools were open but buses were cancelled. The public board reminded parents or guardians who keep their children at home to report the absence before school starts.
All schools were closed and transportation cancelled in the Grand Erie District School Board and the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board.
Providence Christian School in Dundas also said it would be closed.
Advisory lifted Thursday afternoon
In nearby communities, other services and institutions also announced closures, including Six Nations Polytechnic in Six Nations of the Grand River and Bridges Niagara Immigrant and Refugee Services in St. Catharines, Ont.
"Services will remain available, however, everything will be delivered online as our staff will work virtually. All in-person appointments will be rescheduled to a later date. Our centre will re-open and we will resume normal working hours tomorrow," Bridges Niagara said in a post on social media.
"This decision was made out of an abundance of caution for keeping our communities and staff safe."
Environment Canada said Thursday morning freezing drizzle and light snow were expected but would end near noon.
"Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become icy and slippery. Freezing drizzle can produce thin, hard-to-detect layers of ice. Take extra care when walking or driving in affected areas," the weather agency said.
The advisory was for Niagara, Brantford and Haldimand County.
By Thursday afternoon, it had lifted, though a special weather statement remained for Niagara, where "strong wind gusts" were expected Thursday night.
Over their X account, Niagara police reminded drivers to "drive with extra caution, slow down, turn on your lights and leave plenty of space between vehicles. If you're out and about, make safety a priority vs and stay focused on the road."
YMCA child care centres closed, some city rec programs cancelled
The YMCA for Hamilton, Burlington and Brantford closed its child care centres, care programs for school-aged child care and the Beyond the Bell program in Brantford.
Some City of Hamilton recreation programs running out of public schools are cancelled tonight, the city said in a news release, including those occurring in gymnasiums at the following centres:
- Beasley Community Centre
- Dalewood Recreation Centre
- Domenic Agostino Riverdale Community Centre
- Hill Park Recreation Centre
- Kanetskare Recreation Centre
- Sir Allan MacNab Recreation Centre
- Sir Winston Churchill Recreation Centre
Aquatic and club programming is still running, the city said.
The afterschool program was cancelled at:
- Bennetto Community Centre
- Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre
- Westmount Recreation Centre
And programming at the following seniors centres was cancelled, though the buildings are open:
- Ancaster Senior Achievement Centre
- Flamborough Seniors' Centre
- Rosedale Seniors Club
- Sackville Seniors' Centre