Freezing rain has forced some Nova Scotia schools to close on Thursday, while others will delay opening due to icy road conditions.

Classes have been cancelled for the day at Strait Regional Centre for Education schools in the Town of Antigonish and Guysborough County.

South Shore Regional Centre for Education schools in Lunenburg County will also be closed Thursday.

Meanwhile, schools in the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, the Chignecto-Central Regional Centre for Education and some schools in the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education will delay opening by two hours.

Some schools in the Annapolis Valley had planned early dismissals for parent-teacher meetings on Thursday, so they have decided to remain closed.

These include Annapolis East Elementary School, Berwick and District School, Cambridge and District Elementary School, Dr. Arthur Hines Elementary School, Falmouth District School, Glooscap Elementary School, New Minas Elementary School, Lawrencetown Consolidated School, Three Mile Plains District School, Windsor Elementary School, Windsor Forks District School and Wolfville School.

The freezing rain also caused thousands of homes and businesses to lose electricity early Thursday. Most were in the Annapolis Valley and the Truro area, according to the Nova Scotia Power outage map.

Some universities have also been affected by the weather.

The Nova Scotia Community College has closed its Pictou campus Thursday. Its Cumberland campus and Amherst Learning Centre will delay opening until 10 a.m., while the Metro, Ivany, Aviation, IT and Akerley campuses will delay opening until 9:30 a.m.

Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., will delay opening until 10:30 a.m., while Dalhousie University's Truro campus will delay opening until 12 p.m. Thursday.

A freezing rain warning issued by Environment Canada remains in effect for the central region and parts of the western region of the province early Thursday.

CBC meteorologist Tina Simpkin said temperatures are below freezing in the eastern area of the province, where some snow is falling, while it's above freezing in western Nova Scotia.

Simpkin said the freezing rain is beginning to transition to rain in the west as the weather system moves east through the province.

She said the system is expected to turn to rain for most of mainland Nova Scotia by noon.