Storm leaves thousands without power across N.S. with flash freeze on the way

A windy and wet winter storm has left thousands in Nova Scotia without power and caused travel delays.

The temperature is expected to plunge the province into a flash freeze Friday afternoon, which could make surfaces very slippery.

At its peak, about 42,000 customers were without power Friday afternoon. As of 2 p.m. AT, about 32,000 customers were without power. The largest outages were in Sackville, Halifax, Dartmouth, Tatamagouche, Liverpool, Digby, Truro and Goshen.

A large tree fell across Waverley Road in Halifax Friday, between Rocky Lake and Stone Hedge Lane, and was blocking traffic in both directions. The city advised drivers to use an alternative route.

All of Nova Scotia remained under rain, wind and flash freeze warnings Friday.

The weather forced the cancellations of nearly all flights into and out of Halifax Stanfield International Airport Friday afternoon. Marine Atlantic also said the weather could affect some of its crossings between North Sydney and Newfoundland. 

The high winds also toppled a veterans memorial cenotaph in Membertou, Cape Breton, on Friday. 

A construction crane spinning at a site on South Street in Halifax's south end Friday afternoon had some people on social media concerned about safety, especially after a welding failure led to the collapse of a construction crane in downtown Halifax during post-tropical storm Dorian in 2019.

Sherry Dean, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency district chief for division three, said the division chief on the scene has confirmed the crane is moving as it is supposed to and "there is no danger to the public." 

Dean said she understands the concern, given what happened during Dorian. 

In an update on Twitter, Coun. Waye Mason said the Department of Labour and Halifax's police and fire departments were on site "out of an abundance of caution."

The Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education and the Strait RCE cancelled classes on Friday. A full list of closures can be found here.

Freezing rain on the way

CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin said in addition to the rain overnight, the province can expect periods of heavy rain to continue to bring another 20 mm to 40 mm into Friday afternoon. As a cold front pushes southward Friday afternoon, the temperature will drop very quickly and rain will change over to freezing rain and ice pellets.

A drop of 10 to 15 degrees in just a few hours is looking likely Friday afternoon, creating potentially very icy conditions on roads, walkways and untreated surfaces. 

The high winds will be southwesterly 60 km/h gusting to 90 km/h but 110 km/h where the winds blow onshore before settling down Friday afternoon.

Whatever ice does form will linger, as temperatures will remain below zero throughout the weekends, so be sure to have the sand and salt at the ready.

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