Messy winter storm with ice and wind moves in for the weekend across East Coast

Weekend weather will be stormy to say the least across much of eastern Canada. Gusty winds will accompany freezing rain, ice pellets, snow, and rain as this dynamic storm hits the Maritimes on Saturday and Sunday.

Expect slick travel as conditions deteriorate, with local power outages not out of the question, either.

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A low-pressure system rapidly strengthening over the Great Lakes region on Friday will head east and bring foul weather to Atlantic Canada for much of the weekend.

Precipitation will begin as snowfall in the western Maritimes on Saturday as the storm inches toward the area. We’ll see snow quickly transition to ice pellets and then regular rain along the Bay of Fundy shores and the southern coast of Nova Scotia.

Warmer air seeping in from the south will force snow to change over to a period of ice across much of New Brunswick during the late afternoon and evening hours on Saturday, including Fredericton and Moncton. The heaviest icing is likely north of Fredericton along and north of Route 8. Ice will change over to regular rain after Saturday evening.

The system will arrive in Newfoundland overnight Saturday into Sunday. Precipitation will first begin as a modest, manageable blanket of snow before transitioning over to freezing rain into Sunday. Much of western Newfoundland could see a glaze of freezing rain on top of the snow, which could make roads and sidewalks slick across the region.

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Snowfall totals are a bit uncertain right now due to changing precipitation types as the storm advances across the region.

Cold air locked across far northern New Brunswick will allow for almost all snow to fall there, while rain will likely wash away any snow that accumulates in the southern two-thirds of New Brunswick and most of Nova Scotia.

Folks across southern Nova Scotia will see the heaviest rainfall totals from this system, with 20-30 mm filling the gauges through Sunday around Yarmouth and Halifax.

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Beware the likelihood of gusty winds as this low-pressure system sweeps the region through the latter half of Saturday.

Winds will peak on Saturday evening with gusts pushing into the 70-90 km/h range, especially near the southern coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Localized power outages are possible.

Stay with The Weather Network for the latest on this storm across Atlantic Canada.

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