Groundhog Day storm today
Snow, wind and rain in the forecast for P.E.I. today
The groundhog isn’t likely to see his shadow today as a powerful nor’easter will bring snow, wind and rain to P.E.I.
As of Monday afternoon, Prince County was under a snowfall warning while Queens and Kings counties were under a special weather statement.
Cindy Day, chief meteorologist with the SaltWire Network, said snow will start to fall across the Island between 8 and 9 a.m. today, which also happens to be Groundhog Day.
“It's going to snow more enthusiastically over the western edge of the province,’’ Day told The Guardian in a conference call with reporters on Monday morning.
She said Prince County could see up to 25 centimetres of snow. However, snowfall totals drop significantly in the central and eastern portions of the province where 10 centimetres could be the order of the day.
Day said there will be a rapid transition to ice pellets and then rain later in the day as temperatures climb to 5 C on tonight, with up to 40 millimetres possible. Rain is expected to taper off by 8 or 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
Winds will gust to 80 km/h from the east all day on Tuesday.
“(You win need) everything from winter boots to rain slickers, and then you’re going to have a drop in temperature and flurries by Thursday.’’
Kim Griffin, spokeswoman for Maritime Electric, said the utility had an outage readiness meeting on Monday and has all crews on standby.
“We’re ready on our side. It comes down to the type of snow we get and how quickly it changes to rain,’’ Griffin said, noting the concern increases if snow sticks to the power lines and is followed by ice pellets that weigh those lines down.
Day said she’s been keeping track of the system for the past week when it dumped two feet of snow in the elevated regions of California before racing across the continent.
Geographically speaking, it’s a big storm.
As of noontime on Sunday, 100 million people from Michigan to Maine and south to the Carolinas were under some type of winter storm watch, warning or advisory. New York City was forecast to get close to 40 centimetres.
Day said the storm will track into the Gulf of Maine, into the Bay of Funday and through the centre of the Maritimes before hitting Newfoundland and Labrador on Wednesday.
Day said she is fairly certain the groundhog won’t see his shadow today because of the stormy weather. According to folklore, this would normally mean an early spring. However, this year, that prediction may not pan out.
“I feel it’s going to be a very stormy February into the early part of March,’’ Day said. “The jet stream is just shifting and, looking back to the west coast, there is a parade of systems tracking through. Maybe there will be a (frequent) transition to rain (with them), but we’re looking at a stormy few weeks ahead. Winter is far from over.’’