glosteroldboy

It's been a sucky few days (more so considering it's a long holiday weekend, everyone's confined to indoors). St Johns escaped any snow but it has basically been a raw 2/3 degrees (colder with the windchill and cold drizzle hitting your face) Sat/Sun/Mon with constant gloom, drizzle and fog. Single digit highs under a foggy NE flow is not uncommon here even can occur in spells in June (though be looking a little warmer than 3 degrees) so it's not a huge surprise to see a snap like this. Gander however which is about a 4 hour drive into central Newfoundland really got hit with some ludicrous May weather and worse than was initially being forecast, they had 69cm (sixty nine cm, it's no typo!) of snow with peak accumulations of 58cm. Just to put into context how bizarre (even for Newfoundland) this is, the record there for most snowfall ever in the entire month amounted to 49cm and biggest single May snowfall was 29cm......so they've pretty much rewrote all May snowfall records in the space of about 36 hours over the weekend!

Newfoundland is in the midst of a burst of winter Freezing here with the windchill, some parts of the island are being forecast 20 to 35cm of snow! Cant believe the amounts being forecast for the time of year! Down here in st johns its just lots of cold rain with some mixing forecast, fog and biting north easterly wind. Most people off camping too with the long weekend on what is traditionally seen as the start of the summer camping season. Often hear jokes about being snow on the may 24 long weekend, no joke this year for some areas about to be walloped!

No chance of that here even in mid summer but we did break 20 degrees yesterday for the first time this year and I think almost repeated the fete today, setting 2 new daily records in the process, yesterday hit 21.5c beating the old record by a degree or so, just about as warm as you are ever likely to see here in mid May. It comes with high winds though gusting to 50/60kmh so not exactly that pleasant trying to sit on the deck with a beer. Looks a short lived burst of warmth turning cool over the long weekend, probably end up with flurries lol

Winter is hanging on here though it's all very transient snowfall by now, few cm's overnight that melts by afternoon or flurries all day that just melts on impact. Still seeking our first double digit temperature day in March/April (we did actually hit 10 degrees on Jan 31st in a brief warm up with a burst of some rainy moist gulf air), chance it might start to warm up a little bit in the final third of April. Much different to last April though with it's regular days over 15 degrees and even a couple over 20 degrees, last year everything was green and growing by now, this year the grass is brown and trees lifeless. Last year was the warmest April on record here though, I think what we're getting now is more par for the course here, the average max for April is only around 6/7 degrees afterall. I don't think it's been a harsh winter though really, we only really had real cold and serious snowfall from mid Jan to end of Feb. Prior and since it's been well below average for snowfall, just it is struggling to provide some warmer Spring days so far it seems stuck in a rut with cold nights and maxes around 2-6 degrees in general the past month, some minor snowfalls, some rain....not really winter and not really spring...can I call it Wing?

We had a sunny Spring weekend though snow is back this morning, shouldn't be anymore than 10cm. Spring has been making plenty of appearances here in March, pretty much snow free now all the lying snow had melted, although looks on the back burner this week with frequent flurries and small amounts I doubt it will stick around very long as doesn't look very cold in general (or very warm kind of stuck around freezing to 2 degrees)

Interesting Roger, is a bit like here the snow can come and go and a foot (or more) is always possible in any month from November to April. Overall though we get a lot more snow than Toronto and all of Southern Ontario I suspect. This year February was very good in St Johns for deepish lying snow being present for most of the month, January was actually colder and had a bit more snow (though alot of it came from the 2 foot blizzard which thawed immediately and melted in the following few days) than Feb but had too many rain/mild days that wiped out the snowpack. March well it's almost like spring so far, dry, sunny spells and temps 2-3 degrees above by day (is only the chilly Northerly flow keeping the feel a bit wintry) still got some lying snow though it will all be gone I think (bar the man made piles) this time next week with the spring theme continuing. I doubt we are done with the snow yet though so soon in the year!

Last weekend we had about 100mm of rain over 5 days (most of it (60mm) fell in 12 hours on the 4th March) from the 28th Feb to 4th of March, 72 hours of "pea soup" fog was also recorded in that period along with 30 hours of freezing precip. Was a grim few days! Feels like spring here now though!

I suppose though in general I think they have done well for snow from reports I've read. Toronto last month had something like it's biggest single storm since 1999 and a couple of other decent falls which is better than the pretty much no snow they have got in recent years, I suppose that part of Ontario is not really known for lots of snow.

Does seem the East boar the brunt, I know Ontario did well for snow, snowiest winter since 2007/08. And alot more storms this year effecting NE America this year. Not sure how much more snow this season (had a 100mm of rain the past weekend), the pattern is very blocked for the foreseeable keeping any storms well South of us for a week or so. March and April can produce big storms, the biggest snow storm on record here occurred in April though the long range forecast is for a mild Spring so maybe wont see it this year.

How much did you get in the end? Winter here this year has been more snowy and cold than last year at least in January and February where we recorded over a metre of snow in each month and still alot of snow hanging around now, temperatures hovering around freezing this week. December though was pretty mild and not much snow about, winter overall I suppose will go down as around the historic average, perhaps slightly above for snowfall. It doesn't want to seem to go away without a fight although no real snowfall for almost 2 weeks and none really in the forecast this week so that's a sign it's starting to wind down though I would expect a couple more biggish storms before April is out.

The Weathernetwork just relay the Enviro Canada warnings. I find the warnings are pretty good for here, a couple of times I've seen a warning go up almost after it's all happened (to be fair some systems are very hard to predict) but this is rare 95% of the time they do a good job....maybe it varies from province to province. We had another big storm here in Atlantic Canada yesterday and overnight, escaped the worst here right on the East of the island was mainly rain but further West on the island and into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick boar the brunt. Probably didn't get as much attention as "Nemo" the weekend before as it never really effected the US but looked pretty impressive on the satellite:

The system named 'Nemo' is finally departing Newfoundland after effecting us here for a couple of days. Gander in central Newfoundland look to have hit the sweet spot for snowfall with 55cm, not a patch on places in America but a very impressive amount from a weakening system by the time it got to these parts, here in St Johns more of a regular type of winter storm with 22cm and a couple of cm's of freezing rain on top. Looks like were in line for 10cm tomorrow to top everything up and not too hard to clean up.

Might never get back, run to the library and burn some books..

I swear only 4 or 5 years ago New York was hit with a bigger blizzard than they're forecast here, or is my mind playing tricks on me?

We had 50-60cm here on Jan 11th last month, there was some hype/talk on TV before hand that 100cm were possible though I think the media likes to go OTT so lets see what totals this storm does actually deliver down there. To be fair though a few spots bit a little further West on Newfoundland hit 70-90cm so they weren't far off with the hype. I must say the city dealt with it really well here, 90% of the roads were passable with care (once you had dug your car out of the 4/5/6/10 foot drifts!) almost immediately after the storm has stopped, even during the storm the plows kept things pretty clear, the following day everything was open like normal although power outages were a problem for a couple of days. It's a tiny city compared to somewhere like Boston though, the logistics involved in trying to clean up a place like that after 2 feet of snow must be immense.

We are expecting some of this here, though looks like we escape the worse this time maybe 15-20cm max Saturday Evening/night before turning to freezing rain/rain on Sunday then back to snow again as the system departs, a relatively minor event by St Johns standards, further West on the island looks like all snow so should be looking at higher totals there.

Big winter storm on the go here now, pressure to rapidly deepen over the next 24 hours to maybe sub 950mb. Giving most of NL rain and wind gusts in excess of 100 maybe up to 130kmh later, snow and blizzard conditions into Labrador. Latest satellite image, looks immense around 9am Monday:

St Johns actually escaped the worst of this storm, 70-90cm was reported in some spots a bit further West! It's my 2nd winter here and the biggest single storm I've seen here and also said to be biggest single storm since 2006 here. Amounts of 20-30cm are common place but not many winters produce a storm like that. I must admit though it was a bit anticlimactic as milder temperatures (4/5 degrees) and drizzle/fog immediately followed and lasted for 3 days was a huge slush fest, most of it melted almost as quick as it came. Because there was such strong winds too (70-110kmph) we got lots of snow but it all gathers in huge drifts in sheltered spots, you could still see grass on exposed areas and barely a snowflake on roofs and trees, not really your picture postcard look, more give you a bad back from digging out the big drifts! There is a good write up of the storm here with some cool pics: http://www.cbc.ca/nl...o-remember.html

Apparently we have had around 1.6 metres of snow so far this season in St Johns, which is a touch (around 15cm)above average at this stage of January. Interested to see of we can post above average (around 3.5metres) snowfall totals come the end of the season. Around 1 metre of it has come in January and must be heading for below average month in terms of temperatures, early winter was poor for cold and snowfall though. Looks like snow may be limited for the last few days of the month, we had a chance for a big storm this weekend earlier in the week but looks like will all stay out at sea, the middle of next week looks like a brief warm up with maybe a snow to rain event. February will make or break winter for me here, the first half of the month looks like it has potential. It's far from what would be called a bad winter so far though January has been pretty cold with snow in the air most days and the big storm (50-60cm) on the 11th along with a couple of minor all be it still significant storms.

My home town...any links for any video clips of this?

Funnily enough not long after my last post the council had been round with their very heavy duty snowblower and widened all the streets around up here, they don't usually bother with the ones around here as they are only around 4th priority out of 5 on their list (1 being highways and main roads, 5 being very minor streets) and as long as it's wide enough for 2 vehicles to pass safely they leave it. I think they made it worse though as it's left a 3 inch layer of hard ice about 3 feet wide at the edge of each road which seems a real skid hazard if you venture onto it (before you had no choice but to stick nearer the middle of the road which was totally clear just with 3 feet high snow banks either side), this isn't going anywhere for a few days at least as it's turned much colder, Think we have potential for more snow over the weekend maybe snow to rain though, Thursday looked good a few days back for more snow (10cm) but seems like the low going to far south now and will just deliver a few flurries maybe some minor accumulations. In other news, pretty much looked that way for most of the year and 2012 has been officially named the warmest year on record in St Johns.

There are reports of up to 60cm widely the further West in the city, 90cm in the "bullseye"even further west, 50-60cm seems to be about right for St Johns though I have no idea how you measure it accurately when it's being blown about in 70-110kmph winds. It's amazing how well the city deals with it, I still hear the locals grumble that they aren't good enough sometimes but I tell them they should come to the UK and see how 2/3 inches of snow can bring some parts to a complete standstill for days. Friday afternoon as soon as you had dug out the car and what the plow had put infront of the driveway you could drive around with the care most roads were clear (though alot narrower with snow banks either side), by Saturday morning life was back to normal and 99% of places were open again...business as usual. The melting above freezing conditions since the storm have aided the clean up, had it froze straight after would have been more work, though I believe they're struggling a bit in the downtown areas with it's tightly packed streets and lots of vehicles....they literally remove every drop of snow downtown after each storm whereas away from the main city they can just plow it back so far, we have no sidewalks around the streets here and the roads a few feet narrower, it's going to freeze again from this afternoon for the foreseeable so the plows may be around again to grade things back a bit further though generally as long as the minor streets and roads are wide enough for 2 vehicles they seem to leave it like that.

St Johns escaped the worst, around 50-55cm. Reports of upwards of 70cm to around 90cm a bit further West. They thought we were going to get that but the system moved further West than forecast and it tapered off here around 11am - Midday on the Friday (began 4pm Thursday) before some drizzle then freezing drizzle crept in later in the afternoon. Bit further West it kept snowing heavily till the evening, they got over 24hours of blizzard conditions. Was a hard cleanup, the snow was heavy and wet as it was and yes not helped by the drizzle on top. It's not lasting long though it's been above freezing since the end of the storm with 2-4 degrees and fog and drizzle over the weekend, today is a touch warmer and sunny like spring out, think we will be lucky to have more than 10-15cm in patches left before it turns freezing again tomorrow, almost immediately after the storm grass was visible on exposed areas as these areas don't get more than a dusting in a blizzard. http://www.cbc.ca/nl/blogs/ryansnoddon/2013/01/massive-blizzard-is-one-to-remember.html

It's good exercise haha. Must admit think will be a struggle to clear it all, personally most I've dealt with in one hit since I've been here is 30cm which is hard, the talk of up to 75cm is a bit scary, usually the neighbour helps a bit with his snow blower when we get alot so hoping he's feeling kind!

Big storm due to hit us later today, blizzard conditions for 24+ hours all the forecasts seem to be saying minimum of 45cm with even 70+cm possible on parts of the Northern Avalon....staggering figures, hope it doesn't disappoint! Seems an unusual storm track to deliver alot of snow on the Avalon.