Dreaming of a White Christmas? Incoming Storm Will Almost Guarantee One for the Maritimes!
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It hasn’t really looked like the holiday season across the Maritimes lately, with grass still visible throughout the region. There’s been very little snowfall in Nova Scotia and PEI and the existing snowpack in New Brunswick melted just last week. A skiff of snow fell across New Brunswick overnight and this morning, but that’s the extent of the snow on the ground for pretty much the entire region. For those in the Christmas spirit though, that’s all about to change.
Starting Friday evening, a Nor’easter will move into the region that is expected to bring considerable heavy snow across most of Nova Scotia and into PEI and Southeastern New Brunswick. Weather models are currently projecting widespread snowfall accumulations of 20-30cm for that particular area and lower totals for the remainder of New Brunswick by Saturday evening.
The amount of snow expected in Guysborough County and much of Cape Breton Island is lower because some mixed precipitation is expected. Where, and how much of, this mixed precipitation falls will be entirely dependent on the track of the storm and there is still a bit of remaining uncertainty in that regard.
While some may be celebrating the likelihood of a White Christmas, the snow will certainly have negative impacts on early holiday travel this weekend. Not only will the heavy snow be a chore to drive in, widespread wind gusts up to 60km/h, and locally as high as 80km/h, will create even more hazardous conditions due to blowing snow. On top of that, there is the possibility of some isolated power outages with the strong winds.
This is only our preliminary look at the storm so check back tomorrow for a more in-depth forecast once the track of the storm becomes a bit clearer.
