Most Nova Scotia students are enjoying an extra-long March break after a messy mix of snow, freezing rain and rain swept through the province overnight and into Monday.

The wintry weather prompted the closure of all public schools, Cape Breton University, and NSCC campuses in the Cape Breton area. St. Francis Xavier University delayed opening until noon.

The storm started in southwest Nova Scotia Sunday evening and slowly moved across the province overnight, blanketing the province with snow on the first day of spring.

Most Nova Scotia communities saw between 15 and 20 centimetres of snow, which mixed with rain, making for slushy roads and a tricky morning commute for many.

“We will have crews on standby regardless of whether or not that freezing rain continues,” said Tiffany Chase, spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Municipality. “We’ll continue to monitor conditions and continue with that cleanup on any streets or sidewalks that still have snow.”

CTV meteorologist Cindy Day says the snowfall warnings have been lifted, but freezing rain warnings remain in place overnight.

“I wasn’t expecting snow on the first day of spring, but can’t do much about it. I mean, we’ve had freak storms. I’ve had them any time up until May,” said one Halifax resident.

“I just got back from three months away and it’s nice to get a little bit of snow to remind myself of what I’ve missed,” said another.

The storm lingered in Cape Breton Monday morning, forcing the Cape Breton Regional Municipality to pull all transit buses from the roads for the day.

Gerard Jessome of the Department of Transportation says it won't be until late Monday evening that all roads are cleared.

“The good thing about this storm is the wind was not as high, so we were able to keep up with the snow,” said Jessome.

A number of business and government offices closed for the day or delayed opening as police warned motorists to stay off the roads due to whiteout conditions.

Nova Scotia Power says there were only a few outages.

“We have just over 200 people out in the field today. Those would be powerline crews as well as tree crews ready to respond to any outages that happen tonight and into (Tuesday),” said David Rodenhiser of Nova Scotia Power communications.

The weather is also having an impact on air travel. A number of flights in and out of Halifax Stanfield International Airport were cancelled Monday morning. The airport was still reporting a number of delays Monday afternoon.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.