With snowy, windy conditions, RCMP advise Islanders stay home Friday night
Windy weather and blowing snow are reducing visibility on P.E.I. roads and causing accidents, and police are asking drivers to stay home or drive with extreme caution.
Call in your cancellations to 1-877-236-9350.
There were several accidents across P.E.I., including a two-vehicle collision in Kingston, police said, and a car that flipped onto its roof near Midgell on Route 2 in eastern P.E.I.
Vehicles were stuck on the Kingston Road in several areas, RCMP said in a tweet Friday, including a police patrol vehicle. They closed that road between the Cornwall Road and the Jewell Road "due to zero visibility and impassable conditions."
Police also said another problem was cars getting stuck on roads being abandoned by their drivers.
"We are getting calls of people having to abandon their stuck cars in the middle of the roadway," an RCMP tweet said. "Some sections of roads are impassable. Use good judgment on [whether] it's necessary to be driving until conditions improve."
After the province pulled plows from some secondary roads this afternoon, P.E.I. Public Safety tweeted plowing had resumed. However, it also urged people to stay off roads.
Schools were cancelled and government offices were closed for the day Friday.
Danger of frostbite
A wind warning remained in effect for Kings County as of 7:15 p.m. Friday, as well as blowing snow advisories for all three counties.
Winds will begin to ease tonight, said CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland, but blowing snow may still be an issue into Saturday afternoon for exposed roads. Winds are expected from the northwest from 40 to 70 km/h easing slightly to 30 to 60 km/h overnight.
Temperatures will fall to from –12 to –19 C but Scotland said it will feel like –30 with the wind chill.
Saturday he predicts flurries are once again possible in central and eastern P.E.I. and may persist into the afternoon in Kings County. Winds will be from the northwest from 25 to 50 km/h in the morning easing to 25 to 30 km/h by later afternoon.
What's on the way for Sunday?
"There is the potential for P.E.I. to see significant snow on Sunday but there is still a lot of variability between forecast models for potential amounts," said Scotland, promising updates via social media.
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