A winter storm warning came to an end in Southeast New Brunswick just as Environment Canada issued another winter storm watch for the region.
The cleanup is underway in Greater Moncton after a total of 36 cm fell from the current storm system and up to 30 cm more could fall starting late tomorrow.
Moncton now has 55 cm of lying snow on the ground and snow removal operations will likely become even more challenging over the next few days.
Workers creating an ice rink at Moncton City Hall Plaza, 08 January 2015 (Dearing)
It took awhile but wintry weather finally arrived in early January after a green and rainy December in Southeast New Brunswick.
Snow began falling in Greater Moncton on 04 January which was also the start date of seasonal snow cover – several weeks later than last winter.
Temperatures were much colder than normal overall but eight days during the month did have daytime highs above freezing.
JANUARY 2015 ALMANAC (at the Greater Moncton International Airport, 1981-2010)
Average HIGH -4.7
Average LOW -15.7
AVERAGE -10.2 (about 1.3 degrees BELOW normal)
Extreme HIGH 8.2 (19 Jan)
Extreme LOW -23.9 (14 Jan)
RAINFALL 33.7 mm (slightly ABOVE normal)
SNOWFALL 153.0 cm (almost 100 percent ABOVE normal)
(Data courtesy Environment Canada)
On the heels of a major blizzard, along comes another dumping of snow for much of New Brunswick.
Environment Canada has issued a winter storm warning for the province with another 25 cm possible for Greater Moncton beginning Friday night and continuing well into Saturday.
Strong winds are also expected to develop and will likely result in blowing snow causing reduced visibilities.
Schools were shut down for a second day in Southeast New Brunswick and few businesses chose to open after a major blizzard dumped more than 50 cm of snow on Greater Moncton by late today.
Strong winds gusting to 117 km/h created blowing and drifting snow which hampered all modes of transportation.
In the American Northeast, the blizzard packed the biggest punch in Boston with more than 60 cm of snow while about 30 cm fell in New York City prompting a rare shutdown of the public transit system and apologies from some weather forecasters who predicted even more would fall.
A major weather system will impact New Brunswick on Tuesday according to Environment Canada.
Snow is forecast to begin early Tuesday morning in Southern New Brunswick and spread northward through the day.
The system will bring strong winds creating blowing and drifting snow.
Generally 15 to 30 centimetres of snow can be expected for most of the province with local totals possibly exceeding that amount.
Caribbean Sea view from Oasis Palm, Cancun, Mexico, 20 January 2015 (Dearing)
The sky has been mostly sunny since my arrival on 16 January and daytime temperatures have been consistently in the high 20s Celsius.
A bit of rain has fallen but clouds generally give way to sunshine before too much falls – after all this is the dry season in the region.
Snow falling in Moncton’s west end, 09 January 2015 (Dearing)
Environment Canada says about 24 cm of snow fell in Greater Moncton along with a small amount of freezing precipitation.
The long range forecast shows the deep freeze is finally over and temperatures will be closer to normal over the next week.
Workers creating an ice rink at Moncton City Hall Plaza, 08 January 2015 (Dearing)
Following frigid conditions and yet another extreme cold warning for the province – along comes a snowstorm!
Environment Canada says a system could bring up to 20 cm of snow along the Fundy coast and Southeast New Brunswick on Friday with gusty winds creating blowing snow.
Despite bitter temperatures in Greater Moncton this week, no records have been broken yet although it was close today at -23.8 C.
The cold weather has gotten about as cold as it can get in Southeast New Brunswick which has prompted Environment Canada to issue an extreme cold warning for most of the province except the Fundy coast.
The weather office says strong westerly winds will combine with a cold Arctic air mass giving wind chill values of minus 35 or colder well into Tuesday.
The forecast high for 06 January is only -16 C and it’s not expected to get much warmer the entire week.
An extreme cold warning is issued when frigid temperatures or wind chills create a health risk such as frost bite or hypothermia.
Freezing rain turns streets into ice rinks, NE Moncton, 04 Jan 2015 (Dearing)
The temperature also rose dramatically from -13 C to +2 C during the last 24 hours.
Environment Canada reports Greater Moncton received 13 cm snow, Saint John had 11 cm and Fredericton got 17 cm.
