A strong low pressure system is expected to bring a lot of snow, some rain and wind to Southeast New Brunswick starting Thursday night.
About 15 cm could fall in Greater Moncton prompting Environment Canada to issue a snowfall warning.
Strong winds will coincide with high tide along the Northumberland Strait creating storm surge.
This could be the heaviest snowfall event since 01 March when 14 cm fell.
Finally some warmth!
Southeast New Brunswick is trending slightly above normal for March but real heat has been absent until this weekend.
Greater Moncton reached 9.4°C which was a monthly high.
While Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island were cooler, some parts of the Maritimes got into the double digits.
Liverpool, Nova Scotia hit 13.9°C while Saint John recorded 10.5°C.
Early spring is not known as being particularly warm in New Brunswick, but the early days of spring in March 2012 were a rare exception.
For three consecutive days, the thermometer soared into the 20’s Celsius in Southeast New Brunswick breaking record highs and culminating in an unbelievable all-time monthly maximum of 26.1°C on 22 March 2012.
Beachgoers flocked to the coast to take advantage of the summer-like conditions and some at Parlee Beach even took a dip in the Northumberland Strait despite ice patches still floating in the water.
Although temperatures have been near normal so far this month, Greater Moncton has yet to crack 10°C.
Some of the coldest lows yet this winter were recorded in February yet the mean monthly temperature in Greater Moncton was actually above normal based on the 30-year average.
Four overnight lows dropped to -20°C or lower with a frigid -24.4°C on 15 Feb which was the coldest minimum in five years (since February 2015).
Eleven days were below freezing but daytime highs climbed above freezing during the final week of the month.
Three major storms brought above normal snowfall but a scant 1.0 mm of rain was recorded which was well below the average of 28 mm.
FEBRUARY 2020 ALMANAC (at Greater Moncton Int’l Airport, 1981-2010)
Average HIGH -1.0°C
Average LOW -11.4°C
AVERAGE -6.2°C (about 1.4 degrees ABOVE normal)
Extreme HIGH 7.3°C (24 Feb)
Extreme LOW -24.4°C (15 Feb)
RAINFALL 1.0 mm (substantially BELOW normal)
SNOWFALL 71.2 cm (slightly ABOVE normal)
(Data courtesy Environment Canada)
Sunset at Irishtown Nature Park, 25 January 2020 (Dearing)
Glancing at the data for January 2020, one would think it was as cold if not colder than normal in Southeast New Brunswick.
The thermometer sank below -10°C on sixteen days while four of those days dropped to -20°C or lower during the month.
Despite the frigid weather, January was in fact almost three degrees above normal in Greater Moncton.
Despite two major snowfalls (including one event near 30 cm) and some rainfall, precipitation was close to the thirty-year average.
JANUARY 2020 ALMANAC (at Greater Moncton Int’l Airport, 1981-2010)
Average HIGH -2.1°C
Average LOW -10.1°C
AVERAGE -6.1°C (about 2.8 degrees ABOVE normal)
Extreme HIGH 10.9°C (11 Jan)
Extreme LOW -21.3°C (18 and 22 Jan)
RAINFALL 24.6 mm (NEAR normal)
SNOWFALL 69.6 cm (NEAR normal)
(Data courtesy Environment Canada)
Radar shows snow (blue), ice (red), and rain (green) at 9am 12 Jan 2020 (Microsoft Weather)
Rain began falling Saturday with a near record warm high of 11 C in Greater Moncton which melted any snow on the ground.
However, the next system brought colder temperatures and more than ten hours of ice pellets (sleet) in Southeast New Brunswick sometimes mixed with snow and freezing rain.
About 15 cm of ice pellets and snow accumulated Sunday which forecasters say is quite rare and it was certainly heavy to move.
Halifax Public Gardens main entrance, 08 Jan 2020 (Storyful/Accuweather)
Just days after the first major snowstorm of the season hit Nova Scotia, another low pressure system intensified as it tracked south of the province on Wednesday.
The eastern mainland and Cape Breton Island received lots of snow – more than 60 cm fell in some areas.
Southeast New Brunswick got off relatively easy with about 10 cm recorded in Greater Moncton.
Here are some snowfall totals (in cm) from 09 January at 5pm AST:
(Data courtesy Environment Canada)
Heavy snow in St. John’s, NL, 06 Jan 2020 (Twitter/@kelseyhowlett93)
Just days into the new year, a low pressure system has brought mostly snow to Atlantic Canada especially near the ocean.
For most of Nova Scotia, it was winter’s first major snowfall with up to 15 cm at Halifax Stanfield Airport and nearly 40 cm in Sydney.
The storm grazed Greater Moncton with only 3 cm of snow.
After leaving the Maritimes, the system brought 42 cm snow to St. John’s, Newfoundland and 30 cm to the Burin Peninsula with a peak wind gust of 106 km/h in Bonavista.
Meantime, forecasters say another low pressure system is coming midweek.
It felt like winter was on pause during December in Southeast New Brunswick.
After significant snow on 07-08 November, many thought winter arrived early again.
But more rain fell and the heaviest snow was a mere 9 cm – paltry by Greater Moncton standards.
Although the temperature remained below freezing on 13 days and most daytime highs were just slightly above zero, the thermometer did climb above 10°C on four occasions.
DECEMBER 2019 ALMANAC (at Greater Moncton Int’l Airport, 1981-2010)
Average HIGH 0.9°C
Average LOW -8.0°C
AVERAGE -3.6°C (about 1.2 degrees ABOVE normal)
Extreme HIGH 13.8°C (15 Dec)
Extreme LOW -15.1°C (27 Dec)
RAINFALL 56.9 mm (slightly ABOVE normal)
SNOWFALL 26.0 cm (about 60 percent BELOW normal)
(Data courtesy Environment Canada)
A wintry mix falls in NE Moncton, 31 Dec 2019 (Dearing)
The same storm system which impacted Ontario and Quebec is now creating travel havoc in the Maritimes with a mixed bag of precipitation.
Snow along with ice pellets began in Southwest New Brunswick on New Year’s Eve morning and gradually spread to Greater Moncton by early afternoon.
About 14 cm of snow and ice pellets could accumulate in the Southeast before a changeover to rain around midnight as temperatures rise above freezing.
Snowfall warnings have been posted in western and northern New Brunswick with 15 to 30 cm likely with lesser amounts for Prince Edward Island and mostly rain is forecast for mainland Nova Scotia.
UPDATE
Moncton received 5.4 cm of snow, Saint John had 3.4 cm while about 10 cm fell in Fredericton but near 30 cm in Woodstock.
