Newfoundland: Cleanup, military help continues after record-setting blizzard

Digital WritersThe Weather Network
Digital Writers

St. John's begins to remove some restrictions, but state of emergency enters into day four

Cleanup efforts are well underway after the powerful January blizzard brought wicked hurricane-force winds, damaging storm surge and record breaking snowfall to Newfoundland this past weekend.

A new all-time daily snowfall record was reported in St. John's after 76.2 cm fell on Friday, beating the previous record of 68.4 cm back on April 5, 1999. With additional snow falling through the weekend, amounts in the city topped 90 cm. In fact, unofficially, St. John's Airport has now had its snowiest January on record with 166 cm recorded so far. In other communities including Mount Pearl and Paradise, more than 100 cm of snow also piled up with this storm.

The storm paralyzed much of the province, prompting states of emergency in many communities and causing widespread travel issues and power outages. The storm even triggered an avalanche in the Battery area of St. John's on Friday evening, damaging one home, but no one was injured.

The state of emergency in St. John's continued for its fourth day on Monday, meaning businesses cannot open and cars are not allowed on the roads. All schools on the Avalon Peninsula were closed and many schools across the Bonavista Peninsula closed for Monday as well.

On Sunday, CBC reported that the Canadian Armed Forces will be sending 150-200 troops to Newfoundland by the end of the day, and could increase to as much as 300 by Monday.

As we move into Tuesday, high pressure starts to build over much of Atlantic Canada, and that will mean clear skies and a well-deserved break in the snow for the rest of the week, albeit at the cost of below-average temperatures and some brisk wind chill values.

See below for an extensive look at the impacts from the record-breaking blizzard.

NEWFOUNDLANDERS WAIT ON THE SECOND ROUND OF SNOW EXPECTED SUNDAY EVENING

VIDEO: 'THIS IS A MONSTER TASK,' SNOW-CLEARING EFFORTS CONTINUE ACROSS ST. JOHN'S

Thumbnail courtesy of Cyrena Eddy.