Halifax bracing for “weather bomb”
Posted Mar 26, 2014 7:38 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Anyone who wants to complain about the snow should look at what the east coast will be enduring this week.
News 95.7 Meteorologist Richard Zurawski tells 660News, Nova Scotia and parts of New Brunswick are in for a “weather bomb” Wednesday.
“The pressure is declining so rapidly — more than 24 millibars in 24 hours — that the system is developing into something that almost looks like a tropical storm,” he said. “The low pressure centre of the storm is as low as a hurricane that we would see coming up the eastern seaboard.”
Zurawski says the only good news is that it’s travelling quickly and will likely only be over the province for 24 hours.
However, before it goes, it will leave behind 30 to 50 centimetres of new snow and create 110 to 120 kilometres wind gusts across much of the mainland.
On Cape Breton, winds will be much stronger reaching upwards of 180 kilometres an hour.
“This is a brutal storm,” Zurawski said. “While it’s not unprecedented, it is unusual; we usually don’t get this type of winter this late.”
“I should add that we do have a storm surge warning in effect as well,” he added. “The coastal regions are going to take an absolute pounding because of this system.”
Morning reporter Jonathan Muma says everyone appears to be taking this very seriously as Maritimers stay at home and brace for the big one.
“No one is taking any chances here,” Muma said. “Normally what would be a very busy drive out there on a Wednesday; there are no cars out there.”
“It’s just funny that it happens to be happening out there a week after spring starts,” he added.
Comparisons are already being made to “White Juan”, coming in on the heels of Hurricane Juan; it hit Halifax dead on roughly 10 years ago as a powerful winter storm, and rocked the entire seaboard.
In the meantime, the board at Halifax Stanfield International Airport continues to flash red.
The building itself is open, but most arrivals and departures have been cancelled.
Schools, universities, transportation and government offices have all closed.
