3rd winter storm in a week hits P.E.I. Monday

Prince Edward Island is facing its third winter storm in the last seven days, and provincial officials are warning of icy road conditions.

Side roads in Queens and Kings and some areas are iced up pretty good.- Darren Chaisson, provincial director of highway maintenance

CBC meteorologist Peter Coade is forecasting the storm will make landfall on the Island at about 6 p.m. Monday, and provincial officials are warning of icy road conditions.

There was no sign of the storm at dawn, when it was clear and extremely cold: -23C with a wind chill of -31C at the Charlottetown airport. That cold, in combination with freezing rain that fell on the weekend, has led to icy roads in eastern P.E.I.

“We’ve been trying to get as much sand down as we can, just to get some traction, but the side roads in Queens and Kings and some areas are iced up pretty good," said Darren Chaisson, provincial director of highway maintenance.

Sidewalks in Charlottetown are also extremely slippery Monday morning.

It will warm slowly in advance of the storm. Clouds will roll in mid-afternoon, and forecast still has the temperature at -16C when the snow starts.

As has been the pattern this winter, Prince County will see the worst of the storm.

“Thirty to forty centimetres for Prince, 15 to 25 for Queens and Kings,” said Coade.

“The wind is going to be another factor though. The warnings that we have in effect are blizzard warning for Prince County, a winter storm warning for Queens and Kings and throughout an extreme cold warning.”

Confederation Bridge is warning high winds could create traffic restrictions starting at about 10 p.m.

Temperatures will warm significantly overnight, coming up close to the freezing mark in Queens and Kings counties, but only -8C in Prince. Eastern parts of the province could see some rain showers following the snow in the morning.

The coming storm follows a weekend snowfall of 20.6 centimetres at Charlottetown Airport and 29.2 centimetres on Tuesday.

Coade said a developing disturbance could bring more snow or rain to the Island on Thursday.