The record-breaking winter storm that pounded Ontario and Quebec with snow on Sunday night and Monday morning is moving east into Atlantic Canada, and bringing extreme cold with it.
A large and strong low-pressure area brought a large snowstorm across much of southern Ontario on Sunday night, Environment Canada notes, creating significant impacts on transportation and leading to school closures across much of Toronto and the surrounding areas.
Toronto Pearson Airport recorded 46 centimetres of snow on Sunday — the highest daily snowfall there on record. This also brought the January snowfall total to 88.2 centimetres, which Environment Canada says is “the snowiest January and snowiest month since records began in 1937.”
In Quebec, Montreal was still under a snowfall warning on Monday morning, and some Montreal schools announced weather-related closures.
It was still snowing in eastern Ontario Monday morning, but radar is showing that the western edge of the storm is pushing out of the province toward the Maritimes, Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told CBC News.
Some Atlantic provinces are calling for snowfalls between 20 and 30 centimetres, Coulson said, with snowfall and wind gust warnings for parts of southern New Brunswick, and most of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
While these types of snowstorms and single-day accumulations are “pretty rare” for places in Ontario like Toronto and Kingston, Atlantic Canada has seen it before, he added.
“They’re used to some pretty strong storms that can come up the Eastern seaboard and give significant amounts of snow,” he said.
All school boards across the Greater Toronto Area, along with many others in southern Ontario, have declared a snow day after a record-breaking winter storm over the weekend dumped up to 60 centimetres of snow.
Cold to stick around
In Nova Scotia, many schools and universities are closed and dozens of flights in and out of Halifax’s airport are cancelled as the winter storm starts to sweep across the province.
The snowfall is expected to last into Tuesday, and could bring 30 centimetres or more to some parts of the province. Environment Canada says wind gusts of up to 70 km/h along the Atlantic Coast will reduce visibility as it blows snow across open areas.
Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore says he expects to see about 40 centimetres of snow, or more, so he’s unsure whether schools and other services will be operating on Tuesday.
“It’s been coming down pretty thick,” he said.
On P.E.I., Islanders could see between 15 to 25 centimetres of snow, but locally higher amounts are possible, according to Environment Canada. A prolonged period of snow is also expected along southern New Brunswick, with Environment Canada calling for 20 to 25 centimetres, and possibly higher along the Fundy Coast.
Parts of southern Newfoundland are also under a winter storm warming, but they’re expecting less snow: around 15 centimetres, according to Environment Canada.
What makes this winter storm different is the cold temperatures, said Coulson. Often, especially in southern Ontario, there will be a thaw a few days after a massive snowfall, so it will warm up and the snow will melt.
But that’s not going to be the case this time, he said, with colder temperatures remaining. And even the long-range forecast into mid-February is predicting Ontario temperatures that are colder than normal, he added.
“The snow … will likely be hanging around for some time to come,” Coulson said.
“So, for fans of winter, this is, I guess, great news. For those who aren’t fans of winter, maybe not what they want to hear.”