Ferry crossings cancelled in Atlantic Canada ahead of another round of wintry weather

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Maritime communities, utilities brace for cold weather

Cold day in New Brunswick

Icy cold weather is sweeping into parts of Atlantic Canada while people begin to shake off the effects of Wednesday’s storm.

Weather alerts

Yellow cold warnings are currently in place for northwestern New Brunswick, where temperatures are forecast to drop to between -30 and -33 degrees Celsius overnight and into Friday morning.

“A northwesterly flow of arctic air will bring extremely cold conditions to the region,” the warning reads.

“Dress warmly. Dress in layers that you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind resistant.”

“We’ve seen this before, but the difference right now is that we’re seeing it earlier,” said Eric Marquis, mayor of Edmundston. “Usually we would see these kinds of temperatures in mid-January.”

An out-of-the-cold shelter opened in Edmundston on Monday with room for 18 people.

“It’s the first time we’ve had an ‘out-of-the-cold’ shelter,” said Marquis. “We had a couple of days back in January 2025 where we hit minus 40 degrees. So at least for this upcoming season we will have a place for them.”

Marquis said the shelter can accommodate up to 27 people if necessary.

Yellow wind warnings are in effect for northwestern Cape Breton, where northwesterly gusts of up to 90 km/h are expected to start Friday morning.

Yellow snow squall watches are in place for Pictou and Antigonish counties, and western Cape Breton.

Environment Canada says flurries will turn into possible snow squalls as very cold northwesterly winds blows over the Gulf of St Lawrence overnight and into Friday afternoon.

• Hourly and 7-day forecast on our CTVNewsAtlantic.ca weather hub

A yellow snow squall watch is also in place for Kings County, Prince Edward Island.

More information on the temperature plunge can be found here.

Travel

Marine Atlantic has cancelled the following sailings for Thursday:

• The 11:15 p.m. departure from North Sydney, N.S., to Port aux Basques, N.L.
• The 11:30 p.m. departure Port aux Basques to North Sydney

Crossings are also cancelled between North Sydney and Port aux Basques on Friday.

The ferry service anticipates crossings on Saturday morning will be impacted as well.

The Fundy Rose ferry to Saint John, N.B., will depart Digby, N.S., early at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Bay Ferries says conditions continue to be monitored for Friday.

Meanwhile, Northumberland Ferries says the 6 p.m. departure from Wood Islands, P.E.I., and the 7:30 p.m. departure from Caribou, N.S., scheduled for Thursday are cancelled.

All sailings scheduled for Friday are also cancelled.

Power

There are no widespread outages in New Brunswick or P.E.I. Thursday.

As of 12:45 p.m., there were more than 1,200 customers off the grid in Nova Scotia. At the height of Wednesday’s storm there were more than 25,000 Nova Scotia Power customers without electricity.

Nova Scotia Power says it is activating its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) at 6 p.m. Thursday due to the incoming, rain, wet snow and strong winds.

“When wind reaches this speed, it can bring trees and branches into power lines which is the leading cause of outages during storms,” said storm lead Jill Searle in a news release from the utility.

“We are also keeping a close eye on temperatures and how quickly they drop. With rain and wet snow already down, this could create challenging conditions on the road.”

The EOC is a central place for Nova Scotia Power to coordinate planning for outage restoration and response.

“We have been monitoring the forecasts and crews across the province are ready to respond,” Searle added.

Shelters

Multiple shelters will be open in Halifax on Thursday night, including the Halifax Forum, the Windmill Road Shelter, Beach House and the North Park Shelter.

“We started the emergency assistance program a little bit earlier this year and what we are finding is that more people are coming here,” said Romaine Rhoden, director of donor relations and communications with Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank. “We want more people to recognize that this program is available to help them to keep their power on and to keep their heat in the homes and their prescriptions.

“We find a lot of people are coming but reach out if you need. It’s going to be a cold winter for sure.”

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Nick Moore and Emma Convey