Enough snow yet?
Even higher amounts expected Monday
Crews will no more than finish cleaning up from Thursday night’s snowfall when they will have to start preparing for the next one. Environment Canada meteorologist, Linda Libby, said the storm that’s due to roll in around midnight Sunday or early Monday morning won’t be as intense as the one that started Thursday and continued into Friday, but it could last longer.
Libby said the heaviest snowfall of the last storm came around midnight Thursday night and then tapered off. Wind, however, was the dominating factor.
Winds that gusted to 80 kilometres per hour in some areas made it difficult for automatic reporting stations to provide a reliable reading but, based on those readings as well as observations by volunteers with the CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow) network, she said snowfall was fairly consistent in the 15 to 20 cm range across P.E.I. The highest reported snowfall readings from the automatic stations were 29 cm in Harrington and 23 at the Charlottetown Airport. CoCoRaHS volunteers gave levels of 21.6 cm in Borden, 19 in Charlottetown and 14.2 in Wellington. Government plows headed out onto the main roads in Prince County around 8 a.m. Friday, Prince County dispatcher Garth Gallant reported. Plows were on secondary roads since 10 a.m.
Gallant said sanding was suspended on side roads until the wind died down.
He described roads throughout the county as snow-covered and slippery with some drifting. He said the cleanup will likely continue into Saturday. Maritime Electric spokeswoman, Kim Griffin, said there were no power outages associated with this storm.
It resulted in many cancellations and delays. Schools, colleges and UPEI cancelled classes for the day and Access P.E.I. offices in East and West Prince did not open.
Canada Post issued a Red Alert that mail delivery was suspended until conditions improve.
Libby said the exact track of the storm coming Monday will depend on the meeting point of two systems on Sunday. The Canadian model for the storm is suggesting there could be 20 to 25 more centimetres of snow from early Monday into Tuesday, and trailing flurries Tuesday into Wednesday could give another 10 to 15 cm.
The temperature is expected to start off cold, right around -19 C on Saturday morning. It will rise a little throughout the day before falling off again. On Monday the temperature could rise to -3 or -4 but Libby said it will feel cooler with wind gusts in the 65-to-85-km/h range.