Heavy snow and driving wind have forced closures and created dangerous driving conditions around the Maritimes, with power outages reported in some areas of the region.

Environment Canada has issued wind and blowing snow warnings the entire east coast of New Brunswick. There is a wind warning, a blowing snow warning and a winter storm warning in effect for Moncton and the southeast region of the province.

Winds are expected to gust up to 90 km/h Monday, and higher than normal water levels may cause ice to push in along the gulf coast.

Nova Scotia is also facing a series of warnings from blizzard conditions in Inverness County on Cape Breton, to wind and blowing snow warnings in other parts of the province.

Winds of up to 160 km/h in Inverness County on Sunday are being blamed as a factor in two accidents. RCMP say no one was hurt in the weekend crashes, but the police took the unusual step of warning drivers to be careful of the strong winds.

Prince Edward Island is blanketed with weather warnings.

The storm comes as P.E.I. is celebrating a public holiday, as are other some provinces marking Family Day. Schools were already scheduled to be closed on Monday in P.E.I. because of Islander Day.

However, the winter storm has forced other Maritime schools to cancel classes Monday, including in New Brunswick, in the Anglophone West, Anglophone North, Anglophone South, Anglophone East and Francophone South districts, and Nova Scotia, where regional school boards have put classes on hold. The closures are due to the storm and dangerous road conditions.

Dangerous driving conditions

St. Thomas University in Fredericton is still covered in snow on Monday.St. Thomas University in Fredericton is still covered in snow on Monday. (Luke Robertson/Twitter)

There are reports of poor highway driving conditions on Monday morning. The New Brunswick Department of Transportation says roads are snow-covered and slippery, with poor visibility and heavy drifting in places.

Colleen Gorman, spokeswoman with Brunway, the company that maintains the Trans-Canada Highway from the Quebec border to just outside Fredericton, said the highway is snow covered, and recommended people delay any travel plans until later in the day.

Dylan Gamble, manager of streets and roads in Fredericton, said the main roads in the capital city are cleared, but crews still have work to do on side streets.

Moncton streets are in a similar state. The city says streets have been plowed but they remain snow-packed.

The city has taken Codiac Transpo buses off the roads for the morning.

While some city workers were busy plowing streets, some staff were arranging for vehicles to be towed. A city official says about 20 cars left on the streets had to be towed on Sunday night and Monday morning.

The RCMP are warning drivers to be careful on the roads. Police say Highway 7 is very icy and covered with heavy snow.

An RCMP official says several vehicles have been sliding off the highway, but there are no reports of damage.

Police are asking drivers not to pull over for other vehicles if they look like they're all right.

Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island is closed Monday morning to high-sided vehicles including tractor-trailers, buses and cars towing trailers. The restrictions were put in place at about 1 a.m.

All of the early flights from the Greater Moncton International Airport have been cancelled. There have been reports of other delays at the Fredericton and Saint John airports as well.

There are also several cancellations or delays at the Stanfield International Airport in Halifax.

Thousands without power

Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.Environment Canada has issued weather warnings for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. (Environment Canada)

The storm is causing widespread power outages.

Nova Scotia Power is reporting 11,584 customers without electricity as of 8:33 a.m.

Meanwhile, NB Power says there are 6,439 customers without power as of 8:31 a.m. The largest number of outages is in the Fredericton area, where 1,937 customers are waking up to no electricity.

"This storm has certainly created significant damage including broken poles and large trees on line," said Meghan Gerrish, a NB Power official, in a statement.

"Due to the challenges crews are facing in terms of the large geographical spread of the outage and the volume of repairs, the estimated restoration times could vary. Power restoration can be challenging and can present many hazards. Restoration must be done safely and carefully to ensure that we are not putting the public or line technicians at risk."