Many schools in Nova Scotia were forced to close on Thursday after a healthy dose of winter weather slammed the province.
Environment Canada forecasted 15 to 30 cm of snow for parts of mainland Nova Scotia, including Halifax Metro.
The heaviest snowfall is expected to taper off from west to east near noon across the province.
Residents were being asked to stay off the roads as strong northeasterly winds were making driving treacherous in exposed areas.
Meanwhile, up to 40 centimetres of snow was expected to be blown around by 80-kilometre-per-hour gusts across Cape Breton and Guysborough County later Thursday.
School closures
The following schools are closed for the day:
- Halifax Regional Centre for Education
- Strait Regional Centre for Education
- Tri-County Regional Centre for Education
- Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education
- South Shore Regional Centre for Education
- Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education
The following universities are also closed:
- Cape Breton University
- All Dalhousie University campuses
- NSCAD
- SMU delays opening to noon
- MSVU delays opening to 10:30 a.m.
Halifax Regional Municipality and government offices
Halifax Regional Municipality adjusted some of its services ahead of a winter storm..
- Public transit services will delay opening until at least 11 a.m.
- Halifax Public Libraries will delay opening until 12 p.m.
- Halifax Public Gardens are closed
- Even though the winter parking ban isn’t in effect until Dec. 15, “vehicles can be towed any time during the day or night, any day of the year if they are interfering with snow-clearing operations.”
- Garbage, organics and recyclables collection that is normally scheduled for Thursday is cancelled. For those residents, collection will be Saturday.
- Recreation centres will delay opening on Thursday morning. Residents are asked to call their individual recreation centre for information.
The province also announced that government offices in all counties except Cumberland and Colchester will delay opening until 10 a.m., due to the significant snowfall.
Shopping
Halifax Shopping Centre, Mic Mac Mall and Sunnyside Mall have all delayed opening until 12 p.m.
Newfoundland
In Newfoundland, wind and winter storm warnings have been issued for every part of the island, except the west coast.
Up to 30 centimetres of snow is expected by midnight in St. John’s and along the province’s east coast, where gusts could reach
up to 140 kilometres per hour.
And up to 45 centimetres of snow is expected west of the Avalon Peninsula, with lesser amounts in the forecast for central Newfoundland.
-With files from the Canadian Press