NB Power, city hall prep for ice storm
Southern New Brunswick under freezing-rain warning, says federal weather service
The Friday morning commute in Fredericton and other southern New Brunswick communities will be a greasy one, as the federal weather service has issued a freezing rain warning for the region.
Furthermore, NB Power reports its crews are on alert, and City of Fredericton has dispatched road crews to mitigate slippery conditions on city streets.
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s weather service issued a freezing-rain warning early Thursday morning for Fredericton, Oromocto, and York and Sunbury counties.
“A mix of freezing rain and rain is expected. The precipitation will change to snow Friday afternoon,” the warning stated.
“Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become icy and slippery. Poor weather conditions may contribute to transportation delays.”
The weather service’s hourly forecast indicates the freezing rain should start around midnight tonight and continue into Friday.
The warning covers all of southern New Brunswick. Other areas included in the alert are
Fundy National Park, Grand Lake and Queens County, Moncton and southeast New Brunswick, St. Stephen and northern Charlotte County, Sussex, the Kennebecasis Valley and Kings County, and Woodstock and Carleton County.
The City of Fredericton reported Thursday afternoon that it’s taking proactive measures to reduce risks of icy driving conditions.
“The city has been doing some direct liquid application of salt brine, which we do before every storm,” city spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser wrote in an email to the Fredericton Independent.
“We also have staff and equipment ready to go if need be.”
Meanwhile, NB Power said its watching the developing situation in the wake of a major power disruption that lasted as along as a week for thousands of customers.
“We are monitoring the track of the incoming weather system and continue to refine our strategy based on the latest forecasts,” utility spokesperson Clayton Beaton wrote in an email to the Independent on Thursday afternoon.
“Crews are checking equipment, trucks, and ensuring our restoration team is prepared to respond safely and efficiently if outages occur.”
The Independent asked how the recency of the challenging and long-lasting restoration efforts as a result of the Dec. 18 windstorm might affect preparations and responses so soon afterward, but Beaton didn’t respond to that inquiry.
He did acknowledge that NB Power is still conducting a post-mortem on its response to the fallout from the Dec. 18 storm.
“We are focused on continuously improving our emergency preparations and our service to our customers, and we will review the response to the last storm as we do for all major events,” Beaton wrote.
“We routinely assess our vegetation management program and will continue to do so. We do know that the storm was one of the most intense wind events our province has seen, and the damage encountered by our restoration team included broken poles, impacted infrastructure and downed lines, in addition to vegetation impacts.”
Environment and Climate Change Canada’s advisory said freezing rain warnings are issued when rain falls in sub-zero temperatures, creating ice buildup and icy surfaces.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.