Another messy weekend storm to bring snow, ice pellets, freezing rain to Maritimes

Another weekend, another storm — and this one will have it all.

Heavy snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and rain are all on the way for the Maritimes beginning Saturday and continuing into Sunday.

It should be mentioned that there are a lot of moving parts with this storm, with a transition from snow to ice pellets to freezing rain and rain for many.

As a result, totals are little tougher to nail down and a slight shift in track, or a slightly earlier or later transition to mixing could result in changes to this forecast.

All that said, here's where we are as of now.

In Nova Scotia, the toughest forecast will be in Halifax and along the Atlantic coastline, where forecast models have been flipping back and forth on how quickly we transition from snow to ice and rain. Given that, there's a lower confidence than normal with this event.

The heaviest snow is expected along and just northwest of the track where we'll see mostly snow, with some ice pellets mixing in later Saturday. The best chances to see this will be across the southeastern half of New Brunswick, as well as the Cumberland and Colchester regions of Nova Scotia. Amounts will drop off to the north across New Brunswick.

Heavy rainfall is expected for Cape Breton and the Eastern Shore, which is where we'll see the greatest potential for amounts near 50 millimetres. The frozen ground will increase the risk of localized flooding here.

Flurries on Friday and Friday night will turn to steadier snow across Nova Scotia on Saturday morning as northeast winds ramp up. At the same time, the snow will begin to track into New Brunswick from south to north.

The snow will be underway across the entire region by lunch time on Saturday, with northeast winds increasing. It's around this time that we should begin to see a transition to ice pellets and freezing rain along the Atlantic coastline, including in the Halifax region.

That mixing line from snow to ice and then eventually rain will work from south to north across Nova Scotia throughout the afternoon hours, as northern areas will begin to see snow mixing over to ice pellets. Rain, at times heavy, tracks into eastern areas, including Cape Breton, where we'll see the risk of thunderstorms and the risk of localized flooding.

Northeast winds will continue to ramp up throughout the afternoon with gusts from 60 km/h to 80 km/h and above on tap for most. This will lead to blowing and drifting snow on the leading edge of the system and the risk for power outages, especially when coupled with the freezing rain potential.

By late Saturday evening, the mild air should reach its northern limit.

Much of Nova Scotia will see rain, however, with temperatures expected to remain near the freezing mark and northeast winds, I expect that areas in the Colchester, Cumberland and Annapolis Valley areas will be seeing freezing rain at this point.