Snowstorm to Blanket Northern New England, Maritime Provinces Into Friday

By Brett Rathbun, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

December 3,2015; 10:47PM,EST

 

 

The first widespread accumulating snow of the season to affect portions of northern Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Quebec and New Brunswick will continue Thursday night and finish on Friday.
A storm system will quickly strengthen off the coast of Maine on Thursday and will track eastward to the south of Newfoundland on Friday.

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Most areas from Maine to Newfoundland started out the event as rain. However, an injection of colder air will cause a change to wet snow in many locations.
This storm will set its sights on Newfoundland by Friday.

"The storm track will be such that precipitation in Halifax and most of Nova Scotia will be in the form of rain," According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski.
This storm is expected to track quickly to the east but still produce a band of heavy snow with high snowfall rates.
Snowfall rates could reach 2 inches (5 cm) per hour in the heaviest bands of snow.

Travel will become dangerous as roads will become slushy and icy as temperatures fall well below freezing. The fastest deterioration of road conditions will occur late Thursday afternoon and evening.
The heaviest band of snow will extend from portions of northern Maine through central New Brunswick, northern Prince Edward Island and across southern Newfoundland. Snow totals could reach 10 inches (25 cm).
Locations within the swath of accumulating snow through Friday include Quebec City, Quebec; Caribou, Maine; Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton, New Brunswick; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and Gander and St. John's, Newfoundland.
The weight of the snow could lead to downed trees and sporadic power outages.

Strong winds will accompany the snow and rain, mainly across the Maritime Provinces. Winds could gust up to 40 mph (64 km/h) at times, leading to blowing and drifting snow.
Much of the region will remain dry during the weekend following this storm.
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While smaller snowstorms have struck portions of southeastern Canada so far this season, much of northern Maine has been quiet.
"For much of northern Maine, this will be by far the largest and most significant snowfall of the season thus far," Pydynowski said.
"Caribou, Maine, has had only 4.1 inches of snow through Dec. 2, and the normal snowfall is around 13 inches."
Caribou will be located to the north of the heaviest band of snow but could still receive more snow than the city has had so far this season.
Some of the higher elevations of Vermont and New Hampshire had some snow back in the middle of October and in late November. However, this storm will bring some accumulating snow down to the valleys.