Maybe it’s Mother Nature’s idea of an early, cruel April Fools’ joke.
People in parts of eastern Ontario and south-central Quebec woke up to a thick layer of snow Sunday morning, while some in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador are bracing for another blast of wintry weather Monday.
Between 10 and 40 centimetres of snow fell in parts of southern and central Quebec early Sunday. Combined with gusty winds, the snowfall created treacherous driving conditions.
In Ottawa, winter-weary residents were shovelling away about 10 to 15 centimetres of snow that had accumulated by midday.
But a real spring snowstorm seems to be brewing in parts of Atlantic Canada, with New Brunswick’s Acadian Peninsula under a blizzard warning and St. John’s, N.L. preparing for more of the white stuff.
According to Environment Canada, a low pressure system off the U.S. East Coast will move toward N.L. overnight Sunday, or Monday. Areas covered by the storm warning can expect up to 35 centimetres of snow in some parts, ice pellets, and wind gusts of up to 100 kilometres an hour.
A blizzard with “near-zero visibilities” is expected to hit the Acadian Peninsula and Bathurst and Chaleur Region in New Brunswick by Monday. Elsewhere in the province, there will be heavy snow and freezing rain, according to Environment Canada.
Meanwhile, Halifax is under a rainfall warning, with up to 70 millimetres forecast by the end of the day Monday.
All this comes just days after a massive storm dumped up to 53 centimetres of snow in parts of Atlantic Canada.
When will it all end? Environment Canada has suggested that unseasonable weather or colder temperatureswill stick around until mid-April, at least, in most parts of Canada.
