Snow on way to N.B., but it's not likely to stick around

Winter isn't over yet for New Brunswick, despite some double-digit temperatures and sunny days this month.

Environment Canada has issued snowfall warnings for a large chunk of the province, excluding much of the north.

Jill Maepea, a Fredericton-based meteorologist with Environment Canada, said a quick-moving system is going to bring about 15 centimetres of snow to an area bordered roughly by St. Stephen in the southwest through Fredericton and east up to Miramichi.

On either side of that line, in areas including Woodstock, Florenceville-Bristol, Saint John, Moncton and Cap-Pelé, closer to 10 centimetres of snow is expected, Maepea said.  

The snow is expected to begin later Monday afternoon and continue through early Tuesday morning.

According to the statements and warnings from Environment Canada, the snow will be mixed with ice pellets near the Fundy Coast and there's also a risk of freezing rain. 

Maepea said March as a month is typically the transition from the winter to spring, so it is not uncommon to have highly variable conditions such as those New Brunswickers have been seeing. 

"We will see these warm spells; we'll also see these cold spells," Maepea said. 

And while it will snow overnight, temperatures are expected to rise above the zero mark again on Tuesday, she said, leading much of that snow to melt quite quickly.

The Monday into Tuesday storm is part of a larger system, said Maepea, but there is a chance of some lighter precipitation throughout this week. 

"We won't see a lot of sunshine and those warmer temperatures," she said. 

"We might be a little bit below seasonal for this time of year, just due to this unsettled pattern that we are anticipating."