Three separate systems are impacting some Canadians this week, bringing snow, freezing rain and near-zero visibility due to fog.
Across the country, people on both coasts woke up to weather alerts from Environment Canada warning of messy weather ahead.
CTV Your Morning’s chief meteorologist Kelsey McEwen said the three systems are “dynamic,” and will be moving across Canada over the next few days.
FOG TO SNOW
A storm system that brought an “atmospheric river” to the West Coast is passing over the mountains into Alberta from B.C., meteorologists said Thursday.
Due to the temperatures in the mountains, parts of northern B.C. were warned they’d experience fog. An advisory was issued Thursday morning for an area stretching into the Thebacha Region in the Northwest Territories.
Snow began overnight Wednesday, the forecaster said, predicting a total of 10 to 20 centimetres through Thursday.
“Higher amounts are possible in some locations, though Calgary itself is expected to receive near 10 cm,” the warning read.
The storm was expected to pass the region by Thursday night.
During the day, the snowstorm from western Alberta was forecast to stretch into the Saskatchewan communities of Manitou Lake, Marsden and Prince Albert.
FREEZING RAIN TO SNOW
Further northeast in Alberta, the communities of Vermilion, Wainwright and Bonnyville were warned they’d experience a different storm system.
“Patchy” freezing rain was predicted in the early hours, though Environment Canada said it would end Thursday morning.
The same system crossed the border into Saskatchewan on Wednesday evening.
“It’s a real mess across Saskatchewan this morning,” McEwen said on Your Morning.
A warm front from Alberta spread over the province earlier this week, and could be mixed with snow as temperatures “hover” near 0 C, according to Environment Canada.
Closer to the Manitoba border, snowfall totals from this same weather system could be around 10 to 15 centimetres, Environment Canada said, predicting the precipitation would transition over to freezing rain by Thursday evening.
The “heavy” snow was expected to taper off by Friday afternoon, according to Environment Canada.
STORM BREWING IN ATLANTIC OCEAN
Another storm, this time coming from an area off the coast of Greenland, is expected to make landfall in Newfoundland and Labrador by Thursday night, the weather agency said.
“That has prompted some pretty significant warnings and alerts from Environment Canada,” McEwen said.
Smaller amounts are in the forecast for the coastline, the website read.
Communities of Corner Brook and Rocky Harbour fell under the advisories. Other parts of Newfoundland, including the Northern Peninsula East and Bay of Exploits, fell under blowing snow advisories from Environment Canada.
In mainland Labrador, parts of Cartwright, Paradise River and Rigolet were expected to emerge mostly unscathed, with a total snowfall amount forecast between 7 and 15 centimetres.
“Snow will become heavy, at times, this evening. Rain may begin to mix with snow along parts of the coast on Friday as temperatures approach zero,” the winter storm warning from Environment Canada read.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
