Bundle up — it's about to get dangerously cold in Nova Scotia

Frigid temperatures and winds Friday and Saturday are shaping up to be the coldest winter weather event folks in Nova Scotia have experienced in many years, with Environment Canada issuing an extreme cold warning for the whole province.

Wind chill values will reach dangerously low levels across the Maritimes Friday night and Saturday.

School closures

Some schools are closed Friday.

On the mainland, all schools in the Annapolis Valley, Cumberland County and Digby County are closed.

For Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) schools, École Rose-des-Vents in Greenwood and all schools in Clare are cancelled.

In the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education, schools north of Smokey are closed. For the schools that are open, buses will only be operating on paved roads this morning and afternoon.

For the Strait Regional Centre for Education, buses are also only travelling on paved roads. Classes are cancelled at the Cape Breton Highlands Education Centre and Pleasant Bay School due to weather conditions.

Temperatures will start out rather mild on Friday morning, with southwest winds.

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A cold front will then swing through the province and temperatures will plummet throughout the afternoon. By dinnertime, expect wind chill values in the –20 to –30 range.

Winds will continue to strengthen and the temperatures will continue to drop Friday night.

By Saturday morning, temperatures will bottom out in the low to mid –20s, with wind chill values making it feel more like –35 to –40 across Nova Scotia.

Frostbite can occur in as little as 10 minutes in these conditions, so be sure to bundle up if you are heading outside.

Hypothermia is also possible if exposed to this type of cold for too long.

The last time we had a similar event was February 2015. During that Arctic air outbreak, we experienced wind chill values drop to the –30 to –35 range across much of Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick.

We have to go back nearly 20 years to January 2004 to find the last time the wind chill dipped below –35 in the Halifax metro area. Wind chill values dropped to –40 in Charlottetown and Saint John the same year.

While the temperatures will slowly rebound throughout Saturday, northwest winds gusting 60 to 80 km/h will keep wind chill values in the –25 to –35 range on Saturday afternoon.

Those strong northwest winds will also trigger onshore flurries to develop and bring the risk of snow squalls Friday night and Saturday.

Drivers should be prepared to encounter snow and blowing snow, particularly in the Tri-County area, Annapolis Valley, Northumberland Shore region and across Cape Breton.

The winds and flurries will ease through Saturday night then shift to southwest, with temperatures set to rise throughout the day on Sunday.

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