Environment Canada forecasts freezing rain and rainfall for most of Atlantic Canada

Freezing rain spread throughout much of Atlantic Canada Sunday creating wet and slippery conditions and scattered power outages around the region.

The bulk of the outages were reported by Newfoundland Power, where about 2,000 customers had been affected by mid-afternoon in various areas of the island portion of the province including Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, Lewisporte and Corner Brook.

Another 60 to 90 millimetres of rain was expected to fall by Monday morning across the province.

Meanwhile, the Environment Canada forecast called for the freezing rain and drizzle to change to rainfall in southern areas of Nova Scotia as the day progressed Sunday, while freezing precipitation was expected to persist into the evening hours in northern regions of the province.

The messy weather caused some flight delays at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, while Bay Ferries cancelled its sailings Sunday between Digby, N.S., and Saint John, N.B., due to high wave and wind conditions in the Bay of Fundy. Between 25 to 45 millimetres of rain were expected to fall in Nova Scotia into Monday.

In New Brunswick, the freezing rain fell in southern and central areas of the province Sunday.

The forecast also warned of more significant amounts of freezing rain expected in northern areas of New Brunswick Monday into Tuesday due to a persistent weather system stalled south of the Maritimes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2023.