Cold weather, snow to blame for GTA gas shortages

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CTVNews.ca Staff

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Frustrated drivers in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area pulled up at some gas stations this week to find the pumps running low on fuel or even completely empty.

The problem is “a distribution issue,” Dan McTeague, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, told CTV News Channel. This week’s blasting of snow and frigid temperatures made travel difficult for the trucks responsible for providing fuel.

Truckers first fill up at a terminal before making their way to each gas station, often providing 40,000 to 80,000 litres of fuel at a time.

“It’s one challenge to go through several inches of snow at a time when traffic was snarled, as we saw through most of the GTA and most of southern Ontario,” McTeague said. “It made a real mess of things and delayed them inevitably.”

Some drivers were essentially hunting for open gas stations, with several saying they could really feel the desperation.

“I was a quarter tank -- hunting for gas stations -- and you'd see a little sign on there saying ‘no gas,’ ‘no gas,’ [and there’s] a line-up of people pulling in and out real quick,” one driver told CTV Toronto.

Another affected driver was Ethan Wang, whose gas tank gauge was ticking close to empty. “It's my first time that a gas station has no gas!” he told CTV Toronto, adding he didn’t know what he’d do.

One GTA driver said they’d met a man who became stranded because he had no gas.

“He was like, ‘I’m dry.’ And someone had to push him to the gas station,” they told CTV Toronto. Other drivers said they might be forced to do the same.

Gas shortages even frustrated drivers in Midland, Ont. -- approximately 150 kilometres north of Toronto -- where the area received between 50 to 70 centimetres of snow.

“With the massive snow amounts we've just had, we ran out of gas. And the trucks couldn't get up here. so it was a couple of days without gasoline,” a local told CTV Barrie.

Despite the fact that the region experiences wintry weather quite frequently, McTeague said that there is no way to plan for these types of shortages.

“You’re only as good in terms of transportation as the driver ahead of you,” he said. “And if they don’t have snow tires or they aren’t prepared for this or the roads weren’t properly salted in advance, that’s going to create a cascading effect.”

Low fuel prices also “put a run and a premium on the availability of supply,” McTeague said, adding that he expects the issue to be resolve by Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

In the meantime, McTeague said it is inadvisable for drivers to panic and unnecessarily fill up their tanks in order to ensure there is enough gas for those who really need it.

With files from CTV Toronto and CTV Barrie

RELATED IMAGES A women walks by snowed-in cars after Toronto and most of southern Ontario got hit by a storm in Toronto on Tuesday, January 29, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette