Christmas Day on the road

Plow operators kept busy

There was little break for snowplow operators in Prince County on Christmas Day. Paul Montgomery, a dispatcher at the Government Garage in Summerside, said plows were on the main roads from about noon until midnight on Christmas Day. RCMP had issued warnings during the day on Christmas of dangerous driving conditions and urging motorists to stay off the roads. The Confederation Bridge was closed to all vehicles for a period late Monday. Environment Canada meteorologist, Mel Lemmon, had snowfall measurements of eight centimetres to report for Wellington and closer to 5 cm for Charlottetown, but he suggested the accumulation was closer to 15 cm in the northwest portion of the Island. Wind gusts peaked at 75 kilometres per hour in Summerside, 82 in Charlottetown, 89 at North Cape and 96 km/h at St. Peters. The wind started off from the southeast but the strongest gusts Monday evening were out of the northwest. Plows were back out on Boxing Day, blading off roads from a winter storm that rolled into the region late Christmas morning and persisted into the night with strong winds blowing the snow around. Montgomery said there were some calls about slippery side roads Tuesday morning. Sand trucks were on the side roads and salt trucks on the highway. Lemmon said the windchill for the next two days will be the major weather factor.

He said there is potential for more snowfall on Saturday although current models still have that system staying offshore.