Good morning, Halifax!

I hope you all are doing OK after that terrible bout of cold, followed by snow yesterday.

We had an incident in my apartment over the weekend. My fiancee and I live in an old home, probably going back 150 years, so we often face typical old house issues: drafts, decaying infrastructure, poor insulation, all the good stuff.

Well, we awoke to discover our pipes had frozen—not a new occurrence, happens almost every cold snap, but by the time we turn on a couple space heaters, it usually thaws within half-a-day.

When it was well after noon and we still had no water, we knew something must be up.

Our landlord, who lives above us, dropped over to check out what the issue might be. His family was also without water due to the frozen pipes. After locating our water meter, we decided to place a space heater near the pipes to see if it would help them defrost.

It thawed quickly. Maybe too quickly.

After a few minutes, I heard dripping coming from the small space housing the water meter, behind the couch in my living room. It was a minor leak, and I was initially happy to find that it was an easily accessible pipe that had cracked open, probably due to the sudden changes in temperature (a plumber can fact check me, if they’d like.)

As I was off to grab a bucket and text my landlord to let him know, the water pressure picked up. It started to spray across the living room, all over the back of my couch, and of course, on the floor. A small leak had suddenly become a flood.

Thankfully, we were able to shut off the water fairly quickly, but not only did we still not have water, my landlord had to quickly replace the pipes and our water meter had been cracked apart. Our floorboards need a bit of work done, but all of our belongings were safe.

As I’m writing this on Monday afternoon, I’ve had water back for about an hour. You never really appreciate what you have until it’s gone, and that was certainly the case when I was finally able to get a shower, do the dishes, and drink some coffee.

I hope that your weekend was less eventful than mine!

Best,

– B

📷 @creamy_yet_smooth

Today: 🌨️ -7°

Tomorrow: 🌨️ -7°

Next Day: 🌤️ -9°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

What is culture without food?

The Best of Halifax is all about shining a light on what makes Halifax one of the greatest cities to live in, and no small part of that is the restaurants, diners, pubs, breweries, markets, and independent grocers who bring a piece of their culture to the food and drink they create.

There's a spot for every flavour you could imagine in our city, and our readers chose what they consider to be the best of the best, from their favourite pizzerias to their most celebrated ciders. If you've ever needed a dinner recommendation, our readers have you covered with their picks for the Best of Halifax 2026: Food + Drink category, now available to read on our Best of Halifax 2026 page.

Thank you to all who voted, and for another wonderful Best of Halifax!

💨 The Canadian Cancer Society says nearly half of Nova Scotian youth have tried nicotine vaping at least once, with the province having the highest rate of youth vape use in the country—the Department of Health and Wellness says nicotine vaping has detrimental impacts on brain development in youth and young adults.

📱 The province intends to expand its 811 system with plans to introduce a centralized navigation service that could direct calls to appropriate healthcare options—the 811 contract with Emergency Medical Care Inc. is set to end in March 2027.

🥶 Nova Scotia Power has ended its energy conservation efforts after instituting them during the cold snap last weekend—temperatures fell below -20 degree Celsius with wind chill.

🧊 The East Coast Credit Union Ice Festival will take over downtown Dartmouth from January 30-February 1 with the Icelandair Street Party on Saturday from 12pm-4pm!*

💍 Mary's Wedding is an unforgettable, romantic tale about Mary and her love Charlie with the First World War as a backdrop.  Bring tissues!  Buy tickets.

❤️ Thank you, Halifax Coast readers for the vote of confidence! We are grateful and it's because of people like you that we can continue doing what we do! - Michelle Porter and Souls Harbour Mission Mart

*Sponsored Post

🐕 The Dartmouth-based Metro Pet Crematory is closing its doors after 20 years of business—the owner says business has been rocky since a corporate crematory opened 20 minutes away.

🏒 Hockey fans who got to see the PWHL games in Halifax this winter are asking for Halifax to have its own team in the league—Mayor Andy Fillmore commented on the energy of the games but did not say whether or not a Halifax PWHL team was something the city would help fund.

💰 Members of the provincial legislature will return on Feb. 23 which will see the 2026-27 budget tabled by finance minister John Lohr—Nova Scotia’s debt has ballooned to $1.4 billion, with Lohr calling on departments to cut back programs and grants by 10 percent.

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Knots and Knits: Bring a knitting or needlework project you’re working on and hang out with like-minded crafters in a quiet space with hot drinks. Happening at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. | Jan. 20 | 1PM |

🗓 The Music of Matthias McIntire: Fountain School faculty member Matthias McIntire brings his multi-media song cycle sing nature alive from my insides and several others to the Joseph Strung Concert Hall. | Jan. 28 | 7:30PM | $20+|

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

🚢➡️ The EM Kea container vessel arrived in Halifax from Montreal at 12:15am and departs for Bremerhaven at 11pm.

🚢➡️ The Crystal Ace vehicle carrier arrives in Halifax from Ulsan at 5:55am and departs for Baltimore at 5pm.

🚢➡️ The MSC Carpathia III container vessel arrives in Halifax from Valencia at 6:15am and departs for Montreal at 3:45pm.

🚢➡️ The AS Felicia container vessel arrives in Halifax from New York at 8:20am and departs for Kingston at 6pm.

➡️ The SD Victoria offshore supply vessel departs Halifax for Key West at 10am.

➡️ The Algoma Acadian tanker departs Halifax for Charlottetown at 6:17pm.

🥦 2 Doors Down in Dartmouth is serving gluten-free the right way with their Warm Broccoli and Seared Halloumi—charred broccoli, Mediterranean garlic yogurt sauce, pickled turnip, seared halloumi and sunflower and sesame seed dukkah.

🍦 A taste of heaven in a cup—or cone! Try Churned’s Cherry Swirl and Brownie Bits, gluten-free and available in scoops or pints.

💙 This past week, Lisa Banfield (the former spouse of mass shooter Gabriel Wortman) gave a series of public interviews ahead of the release of her book, First Survivor: Life with Canada’s Deadliest Mass Shooter. In it, she recounts decades of psychological and physical violence. What Banfield describes aligns with what experts call coercive control and intimate partner violence (IPV): sustained abuse that systematically erodes autonomy, safety, and a sense of self. The threats to harm her family if she left him, the degrading psychological abuse, the gaslighting, the assaults—these were not isolated incidents but entrenched patterns in their relationship. This is how abuse works: not as a single act of violence, but as a slow, cumulative process that traps survivors through fear, dependency, and erosion over time. Opinion writer Liz LeClair talks about Lisa Banfield and the cultural of violence that has taken shape across Nova Scotia.

🏥 Nova Scotia Health’s leadership are warning provincial legislators that the current rate of spending is not sustainable—an auditor general report shows healthcare operating expenses rose to $7.7 billion in 2024-25.

✈️ Porter Airlines has announced its crew base in Halifax will be closing this May—they are also shutting down another crew base in Thunder Bay, impacting around 60 employees across both cities.

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