Second storm in a week hits P.E.I.

A storm on Friday closed schools and some businesses and left many Islanders without power.

Snow mixed with ice pellets is expected to continue on P.E.I. Friday evening and then taper to scattered flurries by Saturday morning, saidEnvironment Canada.

The number of customers without power peakedat 6,000, said Maritime Electric. By6 p.m., it was reduced to 2,000affected customers. As of 8:30 p.m., about 500 were still affected.

The cause of the outages is weather-related, said Maritime Electric.

Students dismissed early

That forecast prompted a snowfall warning from Environment Canada for the whole province.

The snow started around noon, and at times fell heavily throughout the afternoon.Winds out of the southeast and east gusted to 70 km/h.

P.E.I. Public Schools Branch andFrench Language School Boardletstudents out three hours early on Friday.

All Holland College campuses closed at noon andUPEI closedat 12:30 p.m.

The snowfall is the same kind that created poor travel conditions on Tuesday, says CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland.

Some flights at the Charlottetown airport were cancelled.

Ferry crossings cancelled

Confederation Bridge issued a wind advisory, saying there could be possible restrictions.

NorthumberlandFerries cancelled its crossings between P.E.I. and Nova Scotiainto Saturday morning. It says it plans to resume the sailing schedule at 11:15 a.m. Saturday from Wood Islands, P.E.I.

It is difficult to forecast snowfall amounts for this kind of wet snow, said Scotland, but he expects most of the Island will see a total of 10 to 20 centimetres. His forecast is for a little less, maybe five to 10 centimetres, in the east where some rain could mix in overnight, and as much as 25 centimetres in parts of Prince County.

Another record snowfall?

It would be the second significant snowfall this week, with a record broken on Tuesday.

The record for a Nov. 16 snowfall is 15.5 centimetres at Charlottetown Airport in 1964, so a new record there is a close call. With more snow expected in Prince County, and the record in Summersideat just 10.2 centimetres, also in 1964, a record there is more likely.

Snow is not unusual in November. The average November sees 19.2 centimetres.

With 13.8 centimetres already down this month, this second snowfall has the potential to take Charlottetown well past that average.

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With files from Island Morning