A meteorologist with The Weather Network is reminding residents to take is easy when clearing snow Friday.
Doug Gillham says Thursday's rainfall combined with snow overnight has created a messy mix which will be a challenge to shovel or plow.
He says most residents will be dealing with heavy, wet snow.
"It's going to be very difficult to clear the snow and there's going to be a lot of heavy slush and that's going to be freezing," he says. "It's going to be very difficult to clean up when it's all said and done."
Gillham says city plows may have to make several runs to properly clear streets.
"It's the ice," says Gillham. "Any compressed slush becomes ice as temperatures drop. So that just makes the travel more treacherous. That makes it much more difficult to clear the roads."
He adds Windsor-Essex was not the only region that woke up to a pile of snow.
"We've got messy conditions stretching from the central plains of the United States, snow all the way back to Kansas, through the Midwest up the 401 corridor," he says. "So it's a massive system."
Thursday saw rain transitioning to freezing rain and then snow overnight.
As much as 20cm fell in some areas across Windsor-Essex with more snow in the forecast Friday night.
— with files from AM800's Patty Handysides