The weather system hammering Central Canada is also bringing Christmas travel woes to the East Coast, as holiday travel plans are being delayed by flight and ferry cancellations.
Environment Canada is forecasting rain and powerful gusts through to Christmas Eve in the Maritimes, while it says the storm will carry on into Newfoundland and Labrador until Saturday night.
Forecaster Ian Hubbard says the gusts predicted are noteworthy, with expectations they’ll reach velocities of 90 kilometres per hour in some areas of Atlantic Canada, including up to 100 km/h in coastal areas.
Electrical utilities are warning residents to prepare for potential power outages, and airline departure boards at the Halifax airport were indicating delays and cancellations of some flights, particularly those headed west.
Meanwhile, the Marine Atlantic ferry Blue Puttees experienced mechanical problems with its bow thrusters as it attempted to dock in Port aux Basques, N.L., on Friday morning, and due to the rough seas had to return to North Sydney, N.S., where it was expected to arrive back at 3:30 p.m.
Spokesman Darrell Mercer said the return to North Sydney means the 466 passengers won’t be able to travel to Newfoundland until late Saturday night because ferry crossings scheduled for late Friday and early Saturday out of North Sydney have been cancelled due to the stormy weather.
“They’ll be rebooked until Saturday night’s crossings, but we know there’s a significant inconvenience to that as they (passengers) had travel plans to be home for the holiday season,” said Mercer.
Mercer said the Blue Puttees couldn’t dock in Port aux Basques because without the bow thrusters working, the vessel wouldn’t be able to make a safe turn around Vardys Island, which sits in the middle of Newfoundland harbour.
Rainfall and snow levels predicted vary around the region, with 25 to 40 millimetres of rain anticipated in southern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and about 20 millimetres in Prince Edward Island, while in northern New Brunswick the precipitation will start out as snowfall.
Special weather statements are also in effect for parts of the Bay of Chaleur and south-facing shorelines of the Atlantic coast for possible storm surges.
The storm is part of the same system expected to affect most of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
Sean Borden, the Nova Scotia Power executive overseeing the utility’s response to the storm, said in a release on Thursday evening that repair crews have been positioned around the province. “Based on the current forecast, we expect this storm to cause power outages across the province. We are taking every precaution to ensure we are ready to respond,” he said.
One of the consequences of the wet weather is that much of the Maritimes, with the exception of northern New Brunswick, will have a snowless Christmas.
The lack of snow on the East Coast at Christmas has been a trend described by Environment Canada on its website in its analysis of 67 years of weather records for centres across Canada.
The department calculates the probability of having a white, snow-covered day on Christmas Day in the Atlantic region has been falling steadily, when the period from 1960 to 1984 is compared to the period between 1997-2021.
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In the modern era, Charlottetown has a 40 per cent lower probability of snow than it did in the early timeframe, while in Halifax it is 32 per cent lower and Fredericton is 44 per cent lower.
Mike De Wolf, a cross-country ski enthusiast, said he now has to regularly drive 530 kilometres to the north, from Halifax to Charlo, N.B., to enjoy his sport at this time of year. On Friday, he’d just returned to a snowless Halifax from his latest trip to the region’s last remaining snow belt.
The 73-year-old said, “there will be no skiing on mainland Nova Scotia because of global warming.” He said the decline in snowfall in Nova Scotia “is very disappointing” for outdoor enthusiasts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2022.
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