Snow clearing operations are underway after a nor’easter blasted Nova Scotia with heavy snow and high wind on Monday.

In a news release on Monday night, the Halifax Regional Municipality said crews are focusing on clearing main roads and sidewalks.

“Residents are asked to avoid all non-essential travel while cleanup efforts are underway. Limiting travel helps crews work safely and efficiently,” the news release read.

The municipality said the winter parking ban will be enforced between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Snow routes for Halifax Transit buses will remain in effect on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

The municipality said curbside collection of solid waste for Tuesday is rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 28.

A slew of flights were cancelled and schools were closed or dismissed early because of the weather.

In Cape Breton, buses were pulled off the road on Monday evening.

CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon said the storm was expected to bring widespread snowfall totals of 15 to 25 centimetres throughout the province.

Amounts were expected to exceed 25 centimetres in some areas, especially along the South Shore, where heavy snowfall on Monday afternoon was expected to push totals into the 25 to 40 centimetre range.

Many schools throughout the province were closed or dismissed early on Monday ahead of the wintry weather.

A number of flights were cancelled at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.

Snoddon said the snow is expected to be heavier and wet, especially along the Atlantic coastline and across eastern areas of Nova Scotia where some mixing with rain and drizzle is likely.

The winds are expected to gust between 60 and 80 km/h, with exposed areas gusting to 90 km/h. The gusty winds will lead to blowing and drifting snow and low visibility.

Higher than normal water levels were also likely along the Atlantic coastline on Monday night and along the Northumberland Strait region on Tuesday.

Charlene MacMullin, Nova Scotia Power’s director of reliability and storm lead, said the utility anticipates outages when winds reach about 80 kilometres per hour.

She said Nova Scotia Power’s emergency operation centre allows the utility to have a “provincial co-ordinated response” to outages.

“We are able to look at the impacts across the entire province and look at sharing resources provincially, make the decision to bring in resources from outside the province if required,” she said.

“It just allows us to have that focus in a larger event so that we can make sure we’re optimized and as efficient as possible.”

The Halifax Regional Municipality said the winter parking ban will be enforced between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. Tuesday.

WATCH | Ryan Snoddon’s weather forecast:

Rain-snow mix overnight into Tuesday in N.S.

CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon recommends shoveling before bed because the rain will make the snow heavier.

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