Winter thunderstorm causes power outages, tricky driving
Posted Jan 29, 2010 05:36:15 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
January has been relatively mild and snowless this year, but a snowsquall this morning is making up for lost time.
HRM has only seen about 26 cm of snow this year, compared to nearly 90 cm in January 2009.
News 95.7 meterologist Richard Zurawski says a cold front has moved in on the heels of this week’s thaw, which will bring about five centimetres of snow – and something else we don’t often see.
“You may have noticed that there’s a little bit of thunder out there,” he said. “It doesn’t happen in the wintertime very often, but a cold front will trigger some thunderstorms and that’s exactly what we got.”
Although we’re not expecting much accumulation, the snow is gusting around in the wind, creating whiteout conditions on the roads.
Sgt. Mike Spearns with Halifax Regional Police says the roads are snow-covered and extremely slippery. He’s warning pedestrians in particular to be aware that drivers need more time to stop in these conditions.
“Anyone who’s had the gut-wrenching feeling, even with anti-lock brakes, when you’re on snow and ice, your car is not going to stop,” he said.
Several power outages were reported through the morning, with more than 4,000 people affected at the worst point – 3700 in north-end Halifax and Dartmouth. All but a handful of the outages have now been resolved. A complete list of power outages can be found on Nova Scotia Power’s website.
So far, Metro Transit reports all buses are running on time, but the arrivals and departures boards at the Halifax International Airport are showing some delays and cancellations.
