Cold snap brings back risk of snow squall

A couple walks through a frozen landscape. (Source: AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A passing cold front will drop low temperatures several degrees below late November averages Friday night.

The colder northwest wind travelling over relatively warmer ocean waters will bring areas of flurries and localized snow squalls onshore Friday night into Saturday afternoon.

The areas at most risk of snow squalls include the Magdalen Islands, eastern P.E.I., the North Shore of mainland Nova Scotia, and Inverness/Victoria counties of Cape Breton. These areas are under a snow squall watch by Environment Canada, which cautions that localized squalls could produce snow totals ranging several to near 10 cm.

I’d also include a lower risk for Digby, Yarmouth, and Shelburne counties in southwestern Nova Scotia. Flurries and squalls there would by off the Bay of Fundy.

This is not an unusual weather occurrence this time of the year. The fall season sets us up perfectly for instances of snow squalls as more frequent rounds of cold air break out southward from the Arctic and the ocean water have not become chilled or ice covered yet.

The cold air keeps high temperatures below freezing on Saturday. Low temperatures Saturday night will range from -6 C to -10 C for much of the Maritimes. High temperatures on Sunday will moderate into the low-to-mid single digits.

Temperatures get another bump up on Monday but only due to a low pressure system returning rain to the Maritimes. Some snow is possible in northern New Brunswick with that next system.