Saint John breaks snowfall records the same weekend as Boston
Digital Reporter
Monday, March 16, 2015, 11:16 AM - It was yet another snowy weekend in Atlantic Canada.
Though tapering off on Monday, transportation across much of the region was again snarled, with highway closures and ferry cancellations amid blowing snow.
In places were schools weren't closed for March break, the weather was obliged to shut them down anyway.
It's not remotely the only time the region has been slammed, but what makes this storm stand out is that it was just enough to nudge one city over the threshold of "snowiest winter ever."
Saint John inched over its all-time snowfall record, set back in the 1960s, with Charlottetown sitting in third place, and Moncton fewer than 100 cm away from its own all-time record.
Ominously: It is only mid March. Even though the "official" start to spring is Friday, there's still plenty of time left for more winter weather for the region.
Maritimers can take some comfort, however. They share their records with the city of Boston, which picked up a few centimetres over the weekend to give the New England city its snowiest winter on record:
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the U.S., California was having the opposite problem this weekend. Not only does the state's drought show no sign of abating, it's in the midst of a March heat wave that has been toppling temperature records.
Daytime highs have surpassed 34oC in some communities, straining power grids and making life hard for seniors and others at risk of extreme heat. More than 30 runners at the Los Angeles Marathon over the weekend were hospitalized due to the heat, and at least one suffered a heart attack. More than a hundred were treated for heat-related symptoms at the scene.
It may be a taste of things to come, with officials estimating last week that California may only have a year's worth of water left.
Parts of Canada's west have also been in a snow drought, and while this weekend's record high temperature's weren't on the same level of California's, it says something when Canada's national hotspot of more than 21oC is in southern Saskatchewan in March:
SOURCE: L.A. Times | Time Magazine
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated incorrectly that Charlottetown had broken its all-time winter snowfall record. This version has been corrected.
