Snow squalls and potential coastal storm expected Sunday

CTV Meteorologist Kalin has an update on what to expect from the snow squalls moving through Friday into Saturday and how the weekend ahead is shaping up.

The return of colder air in a gusty west wind has created bands of intense snow squalls in parts of Nova Scotia. While that situation improves Friday night a coastal low-pressure system may bring a more widespread snowfall Sunday into Monday.

Snow squalls

The cold westerly wind developed an intense snow squall that continued to run between Kentville and Truro as of Friday afternoon.

The band of snow has rapidly accumulated in some areas and produced periods of white out conditions. Just a few of the highway areas impacted include parts of Highway 1/101 near Kentville, Highway 215 running between Brooklyn and Shubenacadie and Highway 102 between Stewiacke and Truro. If you can avoid travel on the roadways that are under the snow squall Friday afternoon through early Friday evening that would be best.

That particularly strong snow squall is expected to weaken and diminish moving through Friday evening.

Kings, Hants and Colchester Counties are all under a Yellow Warning - Snow Squall due to that band. A Yellow Watch - Snow Squall continues for Annapolis County, Cumberland County (Minas Shore), Pictou County and Antigonish County.

Northern Inverness and Victoria Counties are also under a Yellow Watch – Snow Squall. For that part of Cape Breton snow squalls may intensify Friday night and be ongoing into Saturday. The squalls having the potential to produce 15 to 30 cm of snow up in the Highlands.

Weather systems moving in

A pair of weather systems moves past the Maritimes on Sunday. A weak low pressure system out of the Quebec and a coastal low-pressure system moving out of the Carolinas. The two system are expect to merge into a coastal storm Sunday night into Monday just east of Cape Breton.

Nova Scotia can expect snow to develop on Sunday. During the day the snow accumulation should be limited to trace up to five cm. Flurries can be expected in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

As the two weather systems merge Sunday night into Monday further snow looks likely for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. There has, and continues to be, a wide variance in how much additional snow that could be between different computer weather forecast models. Some have the coastal storm strengthening as it moves past the Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia bringing a heavy snowfall to the province and eastern Prince Edward Island. Other models hold the strengthening of the storm off until it passes Cape Breton reducing the potential for heavier snowfall in those areas.

As of noon on Friday it is expected to be something between the heaviest snowfall and the lightest. That would be a 5-to-15 cm snowfall Sunday through Monday afternoon for Nova Scotia and eastern Prince Edward Island, which would be enough to make for slippery and snow covered roads for the Monday commute with reduced visibility due to continued falling snow.

If the storm begins to develop earlier on Sunday those snow amounts could come up significantly. That could especially be the case for eastern areas of Nova Scotia including the eastern shore, north shore, and Cape Breton. Residents should check in on local forecast on Saturday and Sunday.