Haligonians woke up to a mixed bag of weather on Tuesday, as a powerful low moved up the Eastern Seaboard, but officials are reminding residents though no snow fell on the ground, it’s still winter and people should prepare for what the season can bring.
READ: Freezing rain closes schools, cancels flights in Maritime provinces
Freezing rain left a light layer of ice on vehicles, streets and sidewalks. The slippery weather conditions also led to a few accidents around the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM).
Weather warnings remain in place across Nova Scotia with Environment Canada predicting 30 to 70 millimetres of rain will fall before the weather system leaves the province.
Mild weather
So far, this winter has been quite mild in Halifax.
The city was in a similar situation two years ago, before things changed and the region struggled with one of the worst winters on record.
“Definitely lessons learned from two years ago,” said Trevor Harvie, superintendent of winter operations for HRM.
“We got some different equipment, different strategies in place moving forward in case those conditions do present themselves.”
But even with the mild weather, city officials are reminding people not to get too comfortable.
“Let’s not fool ourselves, it is winter in Nova Scotia and being on the east coast, we can be hit with a storm at any time,” Harvie said in an interview.
“Right now, we have no snowfall behind us, but like I say, it is winter and we shouldn’t get too spoiled from that.”
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Schools closed
In anticipation of the bad weather on Tuesday, the Halifax Regional School Board decided to keep schools in the region closed.
Other school boards in the province also cancelled classes for the day.
Some residents, like Colin Kingsland, felt the cancellation was unnecessary.
“I don’t think that the schools had to close,” Kingsland said. “It’s actually not that bad at all.”
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No complaints
There seems to be no complaining about how little snow there has been in HRM this year, for both residents and visitors to the area.
“I love it, global warming’s probably not all bad I guess, at least for the winter,” Kingsland said.
“We’ll see what happens,” said Don Roberts, who is visiting Halifax from Prince Edward Island. “Sometimes the predictions aren’t as bad as they turn out.”
“I think this year is amazing so far. We’ve been treated so well this year,” added Jialin Mei.
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“I think it was 2014 or 15, it was really bad. I remember. I can remember there was thick ice on the sidewalk, like terrible. This year is good. It’s good so far. I hope it can keep for the next two months and then we’re waiting for summer to come.”
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