Winter storm batters Maritimes, cancelling flights and prompting closures

WATCH ABOVE: Maritimes hit with a major snowstorm in the middle of March. As Ross Lord reports winter-hardened Maritimers are ready for a break.

HALIFAX – Spring has arrived for central and western Canada but most of the Maritimes are under blizzard, snowfall and rainfall warnings Sunday as a winter storm hammers the country’s East Coast.

Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for the entire province of Nova Scotia with Halifax expected to receive 15 to 30 centimetres of snow, along with freezing rain and ice pellets.

READ MORE: ‘I’m sick of the snow’: Hundreds flee Halifax ahead of winter storm

P.E.I and New Brunswick are under blizzard and snowfall warnings and could see as much as 40 centimetres of snow, while Newfoundland and Labrador is expected to see roughly 10 to 20 centimetres.

“It’s not just the heavy amounts of snow that make this system so potent but it is also the strong winds associated with it,” said Global News weather specialist Ross Hull.

Hull said the Maritimes will still see more snow Monday and windy conditions but it will not match the intensity experienced Sunday.

“Newfoundland is in for the worst from this storm later (Sunday night) and into Monday,” he said.

Global’s Julia Wong made her way through the storm earlier in the day.

The storm is causing headaches for travellers across the East Coast, with police and Environment Canada warning drivers to stay off the roads.

“Travel is expected to be extremely hazardous due to reduced visibility,” Environment Canada said in a weather statement Sunday. “Consider postponing non-essential travel until conditions improve.”

New Brunswick RCMP also advised drivers to stay off a major highway between Fredericton and Moncton until conditions improved. The Confederation Bridge, which links New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, was closed to all traffic Sunday afternoon until further notice.

Halifax Regional Police reported multiple vehicles have become stuck on city streets, as well as ramps on and off Highway 102.

Moncton residents were digging themselves out from Sunday’s storm and say they have had enough of winter.

Vicki Kurkowski got up Sunday morning to shovel out her driveway and said she had hoped the storm would miss the city.

“I think we’ve had enough,” she said. “I think we should have at least one storm that could miss us, but obviously this year it’s not going to happen.”

Recreational facilities and post-secondary campuses across Halifax were closed Sunday morning because of the weather.

With the snow snarling traffic across the region, air travellers are being advised to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

Stanfield International Airport in Halifax and Charlottetown Airport reported mostly delays and cancellations Sunday with some cancellations already posted for Monday.

Hull says Atlantic Canada will continue to see below average temperatures over the next couple weeks with more rounds of snow and mixed precipitation.

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*With files from Global’s Brion Robinson and the Canadian Press