Freezing rain leads to power outages in GTA

Freezing rain across southern Ontario, Quebec and the Atlanticprovinces hascaused power outages and has prompted weather warnings.

More than 100,000 hydro customers across southwest Ontario werewithout power late Thursday night as repair crews tried to stayahead of outages due to freezing rain thatcoated wires and treebranches with ice.

• Toronto tweets icy images after freezing rain blankets city

Hydro One's online outage map shows about 88,000 customerswithout power.

PowerStream, which services communities north of Toronto, wasworking to restore power to some 18,000 residents and businesses.

Environment Canada says they're expecting freezing rain and highwinds to continue through Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, freezing rain warnings have been issued for parts ofQuebec and Atlantic Canada as the storm tracks east.

Environment Canada says significant ice build up and long-lastingperiods of freezing rain are anticipated Friday in northern NewBrunswick, with a mix of freezing rain, ice pelletsand snowexpected elsewhere in the province.

Northern Nova Scotia and P.E.I. can also expect freezing rainbefore the low-pressure system moves towards Newfoundland.

The national weather forecaster says parts of Newfoundland canexpect a period of freezing rain of up to six hours before taperingoff Saturday morning.

The icy weather meant an extra-long weekend for thousands ofstudents across southern Ontario heading into Easter weekend.

Classes and buses were cancelled at three southern Ontario schoolboards Thursday, while many others across the province cancelledbuses but left schools open.