A messy mix of rain and snow has caused hazardous driving conditions and prompted power outages and school closures in all three Maritime provinces.
New Brunswick was hit hard by the storm, with more than 44,000 NB Power customers off the grid early Wednesday morning. More than 20,000 customers were still without power as of 5 p.m. The largest concentration of outages are in Moncton and in Central York and Sunbury Counties.
A number of schools are closed across the province, while NBCC campuses in Saint John, Fredericton, Woodstock and Moncton delayed opening Wednesday morning.
The Woodstock, N.B., area was hit the hardest with 30 centimetres of snow. Crews worked throughout the night into the morning to clear the snow and salt roads.
"They’ll probably do as much as they can till noon time, go home get some rest and then come back in later if need be,” said Andrew Garnett of Woodstock Public Works.
All schools are closed on Prince Edward Island, as well as UPEI and all Holland College campuses. The RCMP are warning motorists that driving conditions are poor on the Island and asking them to stay off the roads, if possible.
As many as 10,000 Maritime Electric customers were forced to cope with power outages and some have been in the dark since a storm hit the province on Sunday.
Snow also fell in northern Nova Scotia, prompting school closures in the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board. NSCC's Pictou, Cumberland and Truro campuses are also closed for the day.
In eastern Nova Scotia, steady rain moved in overnight and throughout the morning, mixing with snow in some areas.
A total of 30 centimetres fell in Pictou County – 20 of that by 7:30 a.m. The snow turned to rain in the area by the noon hour, making it heavy and difficult to move.
Private plow drivers have been ready since the weekend, but still had to be alert for what the morning brought.
“The snow's that packy, really hard stuff,” said plow driverJohn Linthorne.“I had a car nearly slide into me first thing this morning.”
Roughly 15,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were still off the grid at 1:15 p.m., with most outages reported in northern Nova Scotia.
Airports in all three Maritime provinces were announcing delayed flights Wednesday. Travellers are encouraged to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
Obviously that has a snowball effect into the network and the different airlines, so we should be expecting some delays through the day," said Julie Pondant of the Greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International Airport.
Environment Canada had weather alerts in place for much of New Brunswick, where snow accumulations could reach 25 centimetres in some communities by Thursday, while P.E.I. was also expecting some wet snow.
Another low pressure system is expected to move through the region overnight Wednesday, continuing the messy weather.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ashley Blackford and Dan MacIntosh.
