SnowWatt

Snow zone — NS · NB · PE · NL

Heated driveways and snow-melting mats in the Atlantic Canada (NS, NB, PE, NL)

Snowfall normals, electricity rates and melt-capability figures for the Atlantic Canada (NS, NB, PE, NL), computed from NOAA and EIA data.

This page is data only — the written analysis has not been through editorial review yet, so it is marked noindex until it has.

Climate normals

Annual snowfall
87.1 in
Snow days ≥ 1 in
—
Season length
—
Electricity
—

87.1 in a year at Halifax Stanfield Int'l A, NS — ECCC Canadian Climate Normals, 1981-2010 normals. NOT COMPARABLE TO THE US ZONES — see canadian-prairies. Electricity: LEFT NULL ON PURPOSE — TWO SOURCES DISAGREE. The Nova Scotia Power 2026 tariff book gives a Domestic Service energy charge of 18.324 cents/kWh; Nova Scotia Power's own rate-change page reports 19.128 cents/kWh effective 2026-05-01. Neither is the all-in rate: the tariff adds a Fuel Adjustment Mechanism and a DSM Cost Recovery rider on top of the energy charge. Resolve from one primary document before filling this in.

Will a mat keep up here?

Melt capability against this zone's snowfall

Melt gauge — HeatTrak HR20-60 in Atlantic Canada (NS, NB, PE, NL)

  1. ≥ 0.2 cm57.7 d/yr2 min
  2. ≥ 5 cm13.9 d/yr59 min
  3. ≥ 10 cm6.2 d/yr2.0 h
  4. ≥ 25 cm0.8 d/yr4.9 h
Design day
3.9 in
Clears in
2.0 h
Running per year
44 h
Melt rate (claimed)
2 in/hr
Marginal

A 3.9 in day clears in 2.0 h, but normal snowfall means about 44 h of running a year.

Canadian day-counts are published at centimetre thresholds (0.2 / 5 / 10 / 25 cm), so the deepest one that happens even once a year is 10 cm — 3.9 in. A Canadian zone therefore cannot produce the 5 in design day a US zone can, however much it snows. Compare this verdict with other Canadian zones, not with US ones.

  • The melt rate is the manufacturer's claim, not a measurement. SnowWatt has not operated this product. Every portable mat on the market quotes the same 2 in/hr, which makes it a marketing constant rather than a differentiator.
  • Clear time assumes continuous running on a mat that starts clear. It is the time to melt that much accumulation, not a storm-duration model, and it does not account for drifting, refreeze, or snow arriving while the mat works.
  • The design day is a 30-year normal, not a forecast. 87.1 in a year at Halifax Stanfield Int'l A, NS (ECCC Canadian Climate Normals, 1981-2010), the largest daily threshold crossed at least once a year. Your worst day will be worse.

What it costs to run

Running cost — Atlantic Canada (NS, NB, PE, NL)

Power draw
300 VA
Per design-day storm
—
Per normal season
—
Electricity
—
  • HeatTrak does not publish a wattage for this product. The figure above is SnowWatt's own arithmetic — 120 V × 2.5 A — and it is apparent power in VA, not a measured wattage. HeatTrak states no tolerance on this figure, which is not the same as a tolerance of zero — treat the cost below as an order of magnitude, not a quote. Treat it as an upper bound on real power, and see the methodology page for why we will not print it as watts.
  • Hours come from the melt gauge above: 2.0 h to clear the design-day accumulation, and about 44 h a year to keep pace with normal snowfall. Both assume continuous running and no idling, standby or preheat — so the season figure is a floor, not a forecast.
  • Electricity at an unknown rate. LEFT NULL ON PURPOSE — TWO SOURCES DISAGREE. The Nova Scotia Power 2026 tariff book gives a Domestic Service energy charge of 18.324 cents/kWh; Nova Scotia Power's own rate-change page reports 19.128 cents/kWh effective 2026-05-01. Neither is the all-in rate: the tariff adds a Fuel Adjustment Mechanism and a DSM Cost Recovery rider on top of the energy charge. Resolve from one primary document before filling this in. No rate is on file for this zone, so no cost is shown.

The same figures for an embedded system, which publishes a real wattage and so can be costed exactly:

Running cost — Atlantic Canada (NS, NB, PE, NL)

Power draw
1500 W
Per design-day storm
—
Per normal season
—
Electricity
—
  • Power draw is the manufacturer's published rating of 1500 W.
  • Electricity at an unknown rate. LEFT NULL ON PURPOSE — TWO SOURCES DISAGREE. The Nova Scotia Power 2026 tariff book gives a Domestic Service energy charge of 18.324 cents/kWh; Nova Scotia Power's own rate-change page reports 19.128 cents/kWh effective 2026-05-01. Neither is the all-in rate: the tariff adds a Fuel Adjustment Mechanism and a DSM Cost Recovery rider on top of the energy charge. Resolve from one primary document before filling this in. No rate is on file for this zone, so no cost is shown.

Sources

Halifax averages 87.1 in a year with 13.9 days over 5 cm — snowbelt-grade, and the heaviest, wettest snow of any zone on the site. The electricity rate is null by policy, not by oversight: see electricityRate.basis.

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