Brace yourselves: Bigger storm expected Thursday

With public schools on P.E.I. closed Wednesday and the cleanup from an overnight winter storm underway, there are warnings of a bigger storm coming Thursday.

• See a full list of cancellations on Storm Centre
• Call your cancellations in to 1-877-236-9350

UPEI and Holland College are also closed, as is the provincial civil service in Kings County. Provincial offices in Queens County opened at 10:30 a.m., and in Prince County they will open at noon.

Charlottetown Airport says airlines have issued a travel advisory and travellers should check flight status before heading to the airport. Confederation Bridge expects there will be intermittent traffic restrictions until mid-afternoon.

Freezing rain coming

At 6 a.m. there were about 10 centimetres of snow down in Charlottetown and it was falling heavily, with the temperature -10 C.

But the temperature is warming rapidly.Snow was expected to turn to freezing rain as temperatures hit the freezing mark around 10 a.m. The freezing rain will turn to rain around noon.

A high temperature of 6 C is forecast, with winds out of the south at 40 km/h and gusts to 60. Once the temperature hits that high, it will quickly fall off again.

"A roller coaster today, all the way to a low of -11 C," said CBC meteorologist Brennan Allen.

"Any of that slushy mess, make sure you get that shovelled as quickly as possible when you get home from work this evening before it freezes solid overnight."

'No time for skies to clear'

Winter will have more to say on P.E.I. once this storm clears. An Environment Canada weather statement says another one is on the way.

"We don't really have time for the skies to clear," said Allen.

"As this system pushes out another one starts to move into the region from the southwest and that will start bringing some snow by late afternoon Thursday."

Allen said that storm will bring as much as 30 centimetres of snow. Temperatures will remain cold as that snow falls, with a high of -5 C, so expect poor visibility in that storm as the snow blows around.

The weekend should be mostly clear for getting out and enjoying the fresh snowfall, but Allen is watching another system that could bring more snow Sunday night.

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