Long-duration snowstorm set for Nova Scotia this weekend

A long and impactful snow and wind event is shaping up for Nova Scotia. 

A cut-off low will sit and spin to the east of the province throughout the weekend and into early next week. These types of systems are notoriously tough to forecast. When lows sit and spin for days on end, forecast model guidance doesn’t typically handle them as well.

Because of that, there’s greater uncertainty than usual with this storm system, especially when it comes to overall snowfall totals.

With all that said, folks across much of Nova Scotia should prepare for winter driving conditions with periods of snow Friday evening that continue right into Monday.

As the winds crank up, blowing and drifting snow will become a greater factor on Sunday, with blizzard-like conditions at times developing across Cape Breton and the eastern half of the mainland.

Given the long duration of this event, we’ll break this up into two rounds.

The first round will begin Friday evening and continue throughout Saturday. The snow will be light to moderate and slowly add up throughout the day, especially in eastern areas.

Northeast winds will slowly ramp up Saturday and will gust in the 50-60 km/h range in the afternoon and evening. Localized blowing and drifting snow will be a factor over exposed areas.

It appears there will be brief lull in the action on Saturday evening, before round two ramps up.

Given it’s further out, there’s even more uncertainty with round two. That said, it appears the light-to-moderate snow will continue to fall across a good portion of Nova Scotia right into Monday.

Once again, the highest amounts are looking most likely to fall across eastern areas, with Cape Breton and the Northumberland Shore expected to fall in the crosshairs.

No matter the totals that eventually fall, the northeast winds on Sunday are looking likely to crank up with more widespread gusts in the 60-80 km/h range. Stronger gusts are possible over exposed coastal areas.

Folks traveling should prepare for more widespread blowing and drifting snow as the winds pick up and blowing snow becomes a greater factor. Blizzard-like conditions are looking set to develop at times across Cape Breton and the eastern half of the mainland.

Again, there’s still uncertainty with the overall snowfall totals, however by Monday morning, it’s looking likely that amounts will exceed 50 centimetres for some areas of the east and northeast. 

Depending on how the system sets up, it’s possible there will be additional accumulations on Monday, especially across Cape Breton.

Stay safe and stay tuned for updates this weekend on cbc.ca/ns, the CBC News app, local radio and TV.