Many New Brunswick students had their first snow day of the season as a winter storm cancelled school in the Anglophone East, Anglophone North and Francophone North-East school districts on Wednesday.
School was also cancelled in the Francophone South district, with the exception of schools in Saint John in Fredericton.
New Brunswickers like Moncton’s Cheryl Smith woke up to roughly 15 centimetres of snow on Wednesday morning.
Though she doesn’t mind the winter weather, she says it can make getting around challenging.
Smith doesn’t own a car, and says the sidewalks in her neighbourhood in Moncton’s east end are rarely plowed.
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“Especially with the dog, I can’t walk her anywhere. I can’t walk her anywhere on the road so what I do is I just walk her on the road and look for a sidewalk that’s been plowed,” she said.
She said in the winter, she frequently walks to work on the road facing traffic.
Between back-to-back snowstorms and fuel cost increases, the City of Moncton went over their $6.1-million snow-clearing budget last winter.
A spokesperson for the city told Global News on Wednesday that the budget has been increased to $7.2 million this year as a result, $1.7 million of which is specifically allotted for sidewalk clearing.
Though the snow had melted somewhat by Wednesday afternoon, New Brunswickers shouldn’t put their shovels away just yet.
Global News meteorologist Ross Hull said more snow is expected over the weekend.
“It doesn’t look as potent in terms of the winds but (a weather system) could deliver more heavy snow in some areas, setting that base for a white Christmas this year.”
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