STRAIT AREA: Mother Nature decided to flex her muscles last week.
A string of snow days forced closures across the Strait area between February 10 and February 17. Environment Canada meteorologist Bob Robichaud said weather spotters in the Antigonish area reported snow totals beginning on February 10 were between 14 and 19 centimetres. This was followed by between 45 to 50 centimetres in a storm beginning on February 12. The snowfall beginning on February 15 added another 21 centimetres.
“I’ve looked at what few measurements I have, compared that with the radar patterns for those storms and those numbers look [to be] in the ballpark [for Guysborough, Inverness, and Richmond],” said Robichaud. “It’s quite possible Guysborough might be different from Antigonish but it’s probably reasonably representative.”
The storms led to closures in all schools in the region, including the NSCC Strait Area Campus, for as many as three days last week, as well as on Friday, February 10. Nova Scotia Power said around 1,700 customers lost electricity during the large storm, noting the storm affected 1,200 customers in and around Ingonish.
On February 16, the Nova Scotia Health Authority suspended a number of walk-in services, such as blood collection, diagnostic imaging, and EKG services. Emergency and elective surgical procedures continued as scheduled and dialysis services continued as scheduled as long as people were able to make it in. On February 13, the NSHA cancelled walk-in blood collections and diagnostic services, as well as outpatient treatments. Emergency surgeries continued where possible.
All motorists were advised to stay off roads if possible for most of those days and the Emergency Management Office opened its Provincial Coordination Centre on February 12 to monitor the storm and offer support where necessary.
On February 17, Robichaud said a few weak systems are predicted to come through but “nothing major” as far as he can see into mid-to-late next week.
“We get a bit of a reprieve,” he said. “There are a couple of days in there where the temperature should be above zero.”