A winter storm sweeping along the east coast will leave a travel headache for some and a mess to clean up for others.
The worst of conditions will move towards Newfoundland towards Saturday where a mix of snow and ice will persist early in the weekend making for dangerous travel across much of the island.
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People in the Maritimes experienced the full spectrum of winter precipitation on Friday, with rain, sleet, ice pellets and snow causing a mess across the region.
Many communities vacillated between two or more types of winter weather as this dynamic storm took hold.
The worst is now over for the Maritimes, with some snow, ice pellets and freezing rain on tap through Friday night. Conditions should improve as the storm moves east through the night hours into early Saturday morning.
All eyes are on Newfoundland, and the Avalon Peninsula in particular, as this troublesome storm focuses its rainfall on the region.
The center of the storm will pass very close to the Avalon and Burin Peninsulas by noon Saturday, cutting the region between freezing rain, ice pellets and plain old snow.
Parts of Avalon and Burin are expected to experience freezing rain for an extended period through Saturday morning.
“Surfaces such as highways, roads, sidewalks and parking lots can become icy and slippery,” Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said in its freezing rain warning for the region. “Be prepared to adapt your driving to changing road conditions.”
Rainfall on the two peninsulas could transition to ice pellets Saturday morning as colder air moves in behind the storm, likely ending as a snowy spell as the system winds into the afternoon hours.
Farther north, the trapped colder air will make this a snow-only event for the duration of the storm.
The largest snowfall totals are expected on and around the Bonavista Peninsula, where we could see 20-30 cm of fresh snow on the ground at the end of the storm Saturday afternoon.
Temperatures will recover quickly for much of the east coast through Sunday and Monday, with milder conditions continuing until a blast of arctic air arrives later in the week.
Stay tuned to The Weather Network for the latest weather conditions across Canada’s Atlantic Ocean.
