A weather bomb—a rapidly intensifying low-pressure system—tracked from the Eastern United States into northern Quebec on Wednesday, which brought heavy rain, mild temperatures, and record-breaking wind gusts to the Maritimes.
The powerful storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of New Brunswick Power customers and left roads covered in debris. Schools across several school districts in the province also had to close for the day due to the lack of power and hazardous debris.
While New Brunswick certainly seemed to bear the brunt of this mighty storm, other Atlantic provinces also felt their share of impacts.
Several schools across Nova Scotia were also forced to close for the day due to the storm’s windy impacts.
Atlantic Canada peak wind gusts between Dec. 11-12, 2024 V2
RELATED: ‘Weather bombs’: Explosive storms that create ferocious conditions
While it is unusual for a weather bomb to approach the East Coast from inland rather than up the Eastern Seaboard, the most notable parts of this storm were definitely the mild temperatures it brought with it and the powerful gusts of wind.
Records set in New Brunswick
Three daily temperature records were broken on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching 16°C for the St. Stephens area of New Brunswick and 15°C in the Saint John area. Notably, Wednesday was the third-warmest December day on record for Saint John.
Daily December temperature records broken in Atlantic Canada on Dec. 11, 2024
Above all, however, is the record for the strongest wind gust recorded in December for the provincial capital.
A wind gust of 109 km/h was recorded in Fredericton early on Thursday, beating the previous record of 103 km/h, set on Dec. 5, 1968.
While this is not the strongest wind gust ever to be recorded in Fredericton, it has been about 23 years since a gust this strong was reported. On Nov. 7, 2001, a wind gust of 109 km/h was also recorded at the city’s airport—the seventh strongest wind gust on record for the station. This means Thursday’s gust ties the 2001 gust for the seventh strongest gust on record.
In contrast, the strongest wind gust reported at the Halifax airport was 91 km/h—the fifth strongest gust recorded for the city in 2024.
Now that the system has passed, temperatures will begin to sink back towards seasonal over the weekend, and things will be looking much drier, and hopefully, less windy.