Heavy snowfall sparks closures, power outages across the Maritimes

Heavy snow fell across parts of the Maritimes overnight, causing several closures, cancellations, and power outages Wednesday.

As of 10:30 a.m., Nova Scotia Power was reporting 11,697 customers without power, with the majority being in Cape Breton.

On P.E.I., Maritime Electric was reporting 1316 impacted customers, and NB Power said 3,842 customers were without power Wednesday morning.

All public schools are closed for the day on Prince Edward Island. There are also some school closures in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

• Visit our Storm Watch page for more information on school closures

Environment Canada had issued snowfall and winter storm warnings early Wednesday morning in parts of New Brunswick. All warnings have since been lifted.

"As forecast, the most remaining snow with the storm fell across P.E.I. and eastern areas of New Brunswick Tuesday night into Wednesday morning," said CTV Atlantic's chief meteorolgist, Kalin Mitchell.

Mitchell says snow totals ranged from 11 cm to 40 cm on P.E.I., with the highest amounts reported in eastern Kings County.

Eastern New Brunswick saw between 10 cm and 20 cm. Other areas of New Brunswick were reporting a mix of snow and rain Wednesday morning and afternoon.

Mitchell says several centimetres of snow also fell on western areas of New Brunswick and in Nova Scotia's Cumberland County.

"There is a chance of some spotty flurries or showers for the Maritimes Thursday and Friday," says Mitchell.

"Another low-pressure system is expected to return a mix of snow and rain to the region late Saturday into Sunday."

TRANSPORTATION IMPACTS

The weather also affected some transportation services.

Northumberland Ferries cancelled two crossings Wednesday morning. Ferry service was set to resume at 11:30 a.m., leaving Wood Islands, P.E.I.

Marine Atlantic has cancelled crossings from North Sydney, N.S., at 11:15 p.m. and Port aux Basques at 11:30 p.m.

The company says ferry crossings will also likely be impacted Thursday morning.

KEEPING BUSY IN BLUSTERY WEATHER

In Moncton, N.B., The first snowstorm of the season kept Peyton Horseman and his younger brother Ryan home from school, but that didn't mean they had the day off.

“I was playing Fortnite most of the day and then my dad told me I had to go out and shovel,” said Horsemen. “So I had to go shovel out back by the hot tub and it was kinda fun.

CTV Atlantic meteorologist Kalin Mitchell said 19 centimetres of snow fell on the greater Moncton area over roughly 12 hours.

After it stopped, Claudia MacLean spent part of her morning clearing snow from the steps of her family business.

“The first one is usually pretty simple but by the end, you find ways to cope. You go skiing, you go skating, you go snowshoeing and you shovel,” said MacLean.

Tony Fraser said he was happy to see the snow and didn't mind shovelling out his driveway.

“For the kids more than anything right? Exercise, too, right? Can't go wrong,” said Fraser.

Snow in Fredericton came on strong Wednesday morning, but by lunchtime, it turned to rain -- making that fresh snow heavy.

Eight centimetres of snow was just enough to make roads slippery on the morning commute and police reported several accidents.

Charlottetown received somewhere between 10 to 20 centimetres overnight.

One snowplow operator hit the road at 2:30 a.m.

“This is a normal winter,” said a snowplow driver, who spoke to CTV News. “We start with one storm. Last year was the same thing. There was some days where we just finished the first storm and then it was bang the next day we had the same thing.”

And there's more snow on the way.

Moncton is set to see light snow and flurries on Thursday and Friday.

Mitchell says he is expecting another round of heavier snow for the Maritimes this weekend.