White Christmas coming to Nova Scotia along with ice, rain and wind

Nova Scotians may geta white Christmas this year, but they'llalso likely getan icy, wetand windy Christmas.

The snow will beginMondaymorning butwill generally be light before turning into ice pellets or freezing rain and thenrain in the afternoon.

Parts of the Annapolis Valley andnorthern mainland Nova Scotia, as well as areas of higher terrain in Cape Breton, may pick up a few centimetres of the icy mix, but accumulations will mostly be light.

Much higher snowfall amounts of 15 centimetres or moreare expected in New Brunswick,so be mindful of that if your travel planstake you into that province on Monday.

Strong winds

The storm willpick up strength as it moves across southern New Brunswick and into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This rapid intensification will quickly generate some strong winds for Nova Scotia on Mondayafternoon and evening before they start to diminish overnight intoTuesdaymorning.

By mid-to late afternoon Monday, gusts around the coastline of the mainland and at higher terrain may hit 90 to 110 km/h, with the general direction being out of the southwest. Cape Breton can expect similar gustsMondayevening and night, although Inverness County may seegusts exceeding 120 km/h due to the topography of the highlands.

Similar gustsin the past have resulted in power outages, and the windmay also disrupt ferry services and travel on theConfederation Bridge. Environment and Climate Change Canada has already issued wind warnings for areas of the province with more possible as the storm approaches.

Winds are forecast to diminishto 40 gusting to 60 km/h for the mainland and 50 gusting to 70 km/h for Cape Breton by sunriseon Tuesday.

Nova Scotia Power gears up

Nova Scotia Power said it is preparing for the storm and will activate its emergency operations centre at 10 a.m. on Monday.

The company will have power line crews, forestry teams and staff at the customer care centre on duty.

"We will be ready to respond to any interruptions in our customers' Christmas celebrations as quickly as it is safe to do so," said Matt Drover, Nova Scotia Power's storm lead, in a news release.

"We expect this storm to cause power outages, so we would really encourage people to monitor their local weather forecasts and plan their celebrations and dinner plans accordingly."

Ferry crossings affected

The anticipated weather has already caused some ferry cancellations.

Bay Ferries has cancelled its 8:00 a.m. departurefrom Saint John to Digby, N.S.,and its 11:00 a.m. departure from Digby to Saint John on Dec. 26.

Marine Atlantic's Dec. 25 crossing scheduled to depart from Port aux Basques, N.L., to North Sydney, N.S., at 11:45 p.m.is now scheduled to depart Tuesday, Dec.26at 11:45 p.m., weather permitting. And the Dec. 25 crossing fromNorth Sydney to Port aux Basques at 11:45 p.m. is now scheduled to depart Tuesday, Dec.26at 11:45 p.m., weather permitting.

The company says itanticipates a potential impact on crossings on Dec. 26, 27 and 28.