A blue jay perches on a bird feeder as snow falls near Cremona, Alta., on Oct. 12. The only province that’s seen unordinary weather so far this holiday season is Alberta, an Environment Canada meteorologist says.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
About 20 weather warnings from Environment Canada are set to remain in effect for swaths of the country over the weekend, as the weather agency forecasts more snowfall, blizzards, freezing rain, rain and shivering temperatures from coast to coast.
Marianna Greenhough, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the best thing Canadians can do is be aware of the warnings.
“They could be impactful for you depending on what you’re doing,” she said in a Saturday interview.
“It’s definitely been a very active weather pattern, which we don’t always get at this time of year, but we can.”
An Environment Canada winter storm warning says up to 40 centimetres of snowfall starting Saturday will accumulate by Sunday afternoon in much of the western, coastal areas of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Other parts of the province will see between five to 15 centimetres of snowfall in that time frame.
Much of Newfoundland and Labrador under winter storm warning as thousands lose electricity
With strong wind gusts, the weather agency says in a blizzard warning that locals will experience conditions that can significantly disrupt travel and daily routines.
From Waterloo, Ont., in the south to North Bay in Ontario’s northeast, and areas near Canada’s capital, Ottawa, Environment Canada is forecasting up to 15 millimetres of freezing rain, some rainfall as well as a blanket of snowfall starting Sunday, and going into Monday.
The weather agency says in a freezing rain warning that ice pellets may not only make roads and walkways slippery, but also cause power outages and topple trees in parts of Ontario.
Large parts of Quebec are also set to be hammered by snowfall, but Environment Canada says in a snow warning that storm won’t arrive until Monday.
Further west, Environment Canada has issued cold warnings for large parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
From Medicine Hat in Alberta’s south to Fort McMurray in the north, the weather agency says a wind chill of -40 C was set to stick around until Sunday morning.
The same wind chill warning is effect for cities, towns and villages on Saskatchewan’s side of the border between the two provinces as well as in parts of Yukon.
A Pacific frontal system is also bringing heavy snowfall to communities on and near the Yukon-British Columbia border and blizzards to B.C.’s coastal communities.
The northwest coast of British Columbia is also set to see up to a 150 millimetres of rain from Saturday night to Monday morning.
Greenhough, the Environment Canada meteorologist, says the weather roller-coaster being seen across Canada is the result of three different weather systems moving into the country.
One weather system is coming from the Pacific Ocean in the west.
The second one is affecting Ontario.
The third low system is hovering over the East Coast.
The only province that’s seen unordinary weather so far this holiday season is Alberta, she said.
Usually in December, the province sees 18 centimetres of snowfall but it received 24 centimetres in the last week alone.
“We’re well over the normal in Alberta,” she said.
Across the border in the U.S., a powerful winter storm was sweeping east from the Plains on Sunday, driven by what meteorologists describe as an intense cyclone, setting off a chain reaction of snow, ice, rain and severe weather expected to affect much of the country.
The storm is expected to intensify as it moves east, drawing energy from a sharp clash between frigid air plunging south from Canada and unusually warm air that has lingered across the southern United States, according to the National Weather Service.
Over the next 48 hours, the cyclone is expected to produce heavy snow and blizzard conditions in the Midwest and Great Lakes, freezing rain in New England, thunderstorms across the eastern U.S. and South, and widespread strong winds.
Snow and strengthening winds spread across the Upper Midwest on Sunday, where the National Weather Service warned of whiteout conditions and possible blizzard conditions that could make travel impossible in some areas. Snowfall totals were expected to exceed a foot across parts of the upper Great Lakes, with up to 2 feet possible along the south shore of Lake Superior.
With a file from The Associated Press