SCHOOLS CLOSE EARLY TODAY - Friday, March 9: Hazardous conditions

Schools across P.E.I. are closing two hours early today.

The announcement was made about 11 a.m.

Weather conditions today are forecast to be almost the same as yesterday starting about 3 p.m.

Thursday, when school was not dismissed early, the weather records show there was light snow with winds gusting to around 50 kilometers per hour.

Today, the forecast is for light snow, or possibly light rain in some areas, plus mist to begin around 3 p.m., with winds increasing to around 45 km/h from the same direction as yesterday, between east and northeast.

Driving conditions were treacherous on Island roads late yesterday afternoon.

Environment Canada is warning of hazardous winter conditions possible overnight tonight and into Saturday.

The warning, issued at 5 a.m. today, is an upgrade to the winter watch notice issued last night

The new warning says there will be snow and blowing snow this afternoon, tonight and into Saturday.

“Conditions will gradually improve on Saturday,” says the warning.

An hour-by-hour breakdown of the forecast predicts that today will begin with a chance of rain showers or flurries until around mid afternoon.

By about 3 to 4 p.m. the snow is expected to begin, then by late supper time there is a good risk of the snow being heavy at times.

The snow, at times heavy, is forecast to carry on through the night.

Winds are likely to be northeast, with increasing strength as today goes on, reaching gusts up to 70 kilometres per hour by supper time.

Overnight, winds are expected to drop briefly around midnight, then veer to the south with gusts around 40.

The first time the forecast predicts sun will be Monday.

The Confederation Bridge is currently open to all traffic with no warning in place.

FlyPEI shows most flights arriving and departing Charlottetown airport to be on time today. The one exception is the Westjet flight 331 and 332 arriving from and departing back to Toronto around 6 p.m.  Those flights have been cancelled for today. Check the airport web site for updates.

On P.E.I. today, early morning temperatures ranged from a high of +1.8 in East Point, to a low of -0.2 in North Cape.

WEATHER TODAY:

    Cloudy with good chance of rain showers or flurries this morning and early this afternoon. Snow beginning this afternoon. Snowfall amount 2 to 4 cm.

    TEMPERATURE: High +5 this morning, but temperature falling to zero this afternoon.

    WIND: Southeast, gusting to 50, becoming light this morning. Wind becoming northeast, gusting to 40 this afternoon.

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LIVE STREAM of downtown Charlottetown to see weather conditions there, courtesy of the P.E.I. government and The Guild.

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TONIGHT’S PREDICTION

    Snow at times heavy and blowing snow. Amount 15 cm.

    TEMPERATURE: -1.

    WIND: North, gusting to 70, becoming light near midnight.

TOMORROW’S FORECAST FOR SATURDAY, March 10:

    Periods of snow. Blowing snow over exposed areas in the morning and early in the afternoon. Amount 2 to 4 cm.

    TEMPERATURE: Steady near +1.

    WIND: South, gusting to 60, diminishing to 20 gusting to 40 in the afternoon.

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First light – 5:33 a.m.

Civil twilight – 6:08 a.m.

Official Sunrise – 6:38 a.m.

Official Sunset – 6:09 p.m.

Civil twilight ends – 6:39 p.m.

Last light – 7:13 p.m.

Moon – The moon rose early this morning at 1:26 a.m., and sets this morning at 10:59 a.m. The moon will reach its third-quarter phase today at 7:19 a.m.

The official length of daylight today is 11 hours, 31 minutes.

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The highest temperature on record for March 9 on P.E.I. is +11.3 set in 1995.

The lowest temperature on record for this date is –21.5 set in 1997.

For March 9 on P.E.I., the average high is –0.3.

Average low for this date is -8.5.

The hot spot in Canada this morning was in Hope, B.C. where it was +7.4.

The coldest spot anywhere in Canada early this morning was yet again at Eureka, Nunavut where it was -44.1.

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Below is a live-stream camera view courtesy of Confederation Bridge to give a sense of weather conditions at that location.