Hurricane-force winds lashed the Maritimes on Monday, snapping trees in half, stripping the siding from homes and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes.
Cape Breton Island was hit with winds as fast as 170 kilometres per hour, as fishermen tied down their boats and sought shelter.
In the town of Yarmouth, resident Carl Nickerson took photographs of the destruction, saying he had never seen anything like it in more than 30 years.
"I don't think the wind has blown this hard here since back in '76, during the Groundhog Day Storm," he told CTV Atlantic.
Power crews are scrambling to return power to thousands of customers, as they wait out the bitter cold. As of 6 p.m., less than 60,000 were in the dark.
David Rodenhiser of Nova Scotia's Emergency Management Office said electricity should be back on for most homes by Monday night.
"It's better now than it was earlier today. The power is coming back on. We had had close to 100,000 homes without electricity and Nova Scotia has got that down to about 60,000 now," he told 麻豆影视net. "They're aiming to have it down to about 10,000 by midnight."
Rodenhiser said his office was advising people to stay off the roads if possible.
"If you can avoid going out and you can stay home -- stay home, bundle up and stay warm," he said. "The roads in a number of areas are still pretty treacherous, so we're recommending against driving if you can avoid it."
In the Halifax region, which has received about 10 to 15 centimetres of snow, winds were expected to reach 110 km/h.
"The winds will diminish after the supper hour but still gusting to about 60 km/h," CTV meteorologist Cindy Day reported Monday afternoon.
In New Brunswick, power crews were trying to restore electricity for about 3,300 homes on Monday afternoon -- including 1,658 in Fredericton.
"With three storms last week and now this we're definitely busy," NB Power spokesperson Heather McLean told The Canadian Press.
Flight delays
Meanwhile, airports in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have been forced to delay or cancel flights.
Peter Spurway, spokesman for the Halifax International Airport Authority, said flights have been "significantly disrupted."
He said airlines will have to look at their schedules to try and make sure travellers are able reach their destinations ahead of the Christmas holiday.
"Some may decide to add additional flights," he said.
Earlier Monday, travel restrictions were in place on the Confederation Bridge and part of the Trans-Canada Highway, from Amherst, N.S., to the New Brunswick border.
As of noon, only empty transport trucks were being kept off the highway because of heavy winds, reports The Canadian Press.
In P.E.I., most businesses and offices delayed opening or were closed for the day.
On Sunday, which was officially the first day of winter, Canadians across the country endured wind-chill warnings, snow and a bevy of storms.
Environment Canada issued snowfall warnings in B.C. and wind chill warnings for the Prairies and northern Ontario.
"What we've seen in Canada, which is really rare, is to see the country frozen and snow covered," David Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist, said Monday.
Phillips said he thinks it will be a White Christmas for all parts of Canada for the first time since 1971.
"I think it's a done deal," Phillips told CTV's Canada AM.
"People who hate snow love it on Christmas Day."
Still, Phillips said the early blast of winter doesn't mean the whole season will be as harsh.
Between January and March, Phillips said models show colder than normal conditions in Western Canada, normal conditions in Central Canada, and milder than normal from eastern Ontario to the Maritimes.
With reports from CTV Atlantic and files from The Canadian Press
