After a messy mix of precipitation this morning, the snow appears to be transitioning to rain in Toronto.

And on the bright (but not sunny) side, Environment Canada ended its special weather statement for Toronto at 3 p.m. Other parts of the GTA, including Mississauga, Brampton, Halton Hills, Milton, Burlington and Oakville, are also relieved of the weather statement.

Today’s cocktail of snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and rain hit hardest between 9 a.m. and noon.

Winston Chiu walked five minutes to buy bread and “felt like daggers were being thrown” at his face.

“It’s probably one of the worst days of the year,” he added.

Jose Bermudez, a financial analyst, opted to work from a nearby coffee shop rather than trek to his company’s offices in Brampton.

“This place was one minute away, I wouldn’t have gone much further,” he said from the comfort of a Second Cup store near Yonge St.

“But it’s actually not that bad. I was expecting it to be way worse. I thought there would be a lot more snow.

“This is nothing compared to what [the weather] we had last year.”

Just before noon, Environment Canada issued an updated freezing rain warning for Newmarket, Georgina, Northern York Region, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, and Markham.

“It’s probably going to be another hour or two where there is a possibility in the northern parts of the GTA that some of this may still be falling as freezing rain,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson.

“As we get towards early afternoon, the temperature is going to get above the freezing mark, and we’re expecting that messy mix to change to over to rain this afternoon.”

Coulson said the rainfall is expected to be heavy at times, which could lead to ponding and slick conditions on roadways as we approach the evening rush hour.

The snow and ice pellets will transition into heavy rain in the afternoon as temperatures pop up to a high of 2 C. Though any accumulation on the ground will quickly dissipate into soggy slush, don’t get too comfortable on your evening commute home.

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All school buses have been cancelled for York Catholic and York Region district school boards. Peel and Dufferin-Peel school boards have also cancelled all school buses to schools in Caledon, while Halton Catholic district school board has cancelled buses for schools north of Steeles.

Several flights at Pearson airport — mostly arriving from or bound for eastern Canada and the northern United States — have already been cancelled.

The TTC and GO Transit are operating on schedule, with service disruptions popping up and clearing as the storm evolves.

GO Transit is warning that several of its lines could be affected by the inclement weather.

At around 9:30 a.m., the TTC called in shuttle buses after an overhead power outage on the 506 Carlton streetcar route. Traffic on the Yonge-University subway was also compounded earlier Wednesday morning when service was briefly held on Line 1 between Spadina and Union stations due to a personal injury call.

The city began applying salt brine to the roads overnight in anticipation of slick conditions and salters and snow plows are on hand as needed throughout the day.

But as always, drivers are urged to take extra caution on icy roads. York Regional Police had a busy morning responding to 30 motor vehicle collision calls between 6:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., according to a Twitter post.

Cold Arctic air swooping in during the evening could turn the rain back into snow or freezing rain and keep the roads an icy mess Wednesday night.

“The buffet of weather conditions is a result of the sweet spot of 0 C that Toronto will see throughout the day,” said Environment Canada climatologist Dave Phillips.

“If it were slightly colder we would see mainly snow, and rain if it were slightly warmer. Instead, we have this whole smorgasbord of weather types as the temperatures fluctuate in that freezing range.”

Those hoping for some relief Thursday are out of luck. Tomorrow morning’s commute could be even worse as the precipitation turns back into snow. This transition will likely happen in the second half of the morning rush hour, said Coulson.

“That snow will then continue for the rest of Thursday morning into the mid-afternoon, giving us about 2 to 4 cm of snow.”

With files from Vjosa Isai and David Bateman