What a crazy month of Weather we've had across the Province. After a quieter start to the season, Winter really kicked in mid-January and we haven't looked back. Generally across NL, Winter has been full on since the big Blizzard in Eastern Newfoundland on January 11th.

 

Including the Blizzard, we've had 12 systems/storms in the past month. The past few weeks have been the most intense. As a whole we've had 7 systems or storms move through since the January 30th, including Tuesday's snow-maker. That's 7 systems or storms in 14 days. It's been active!

 

Here are a few highlights from our month of Winter madness.

 

-Over 50 cm in St. John's, and 70-90 cm in the Trinity Bay area. Peak winds gusts over 130 km/h. 30 hours of Freezing Drizzle in Gander. Biggest Storm in years. Enough said.

 

-System brings record breaking 4.0 temps to HV-GB and warm air to SE Labrador and right across the Island. Temp rises to 6-8 in Metro. Meanwhile in Labrador West 18 cm of Snow, following by an intense cold front, which set the stage for a bitter cold snap.

 

-As Arctic air floods into NL, especially Labrador. St. John's and Eastern Newfoundland gets clipped by a system passing SE of the Avalon. Snow is light and fluffy with reports from 10 cm at YYT to 27 cm in the Southlands! Following the Storm, Wx stations across the Province dip to some of their coldest temps of the Winter. #YYT drops to -16.4, the coldest temp recorded since 2008!

 

-Not a huge event for the Province as a whole, however this system prompted Blizzard Warnings along the Coast of Labrador, dropping 10-20 cm of Snow.

 

-Another system passing along this Winter's most popular track, just SE of the Island. This system was a decent Storm for the Avalon, dropping 22 cm at YYT, 25 in Port Union and 15 cm in Whitbourne. Peak Wind Gusts 80-90 km/h.

 

-This wasn't officially a "Storm" however try to tell that to the folks living along the West & even South Coasts. The Snow Squall machine, as I sometimes call it, was in firing on all cylinders for 2-3 days. Strong Winds, white-out conditions and lots of accumulation for some along the West Coast.

 

A BREAK.... our only other break since this Winter kicked in.

 

Jan 30th-31st: LAB WEST STORM, HUGE WARM UP FOR NFLD

-The highlight of this Storm was certainly the warm air. Double digit temperatures pushed in across the Island, breaking numerous records. Rainfall amounts reached 60+ mm in Stephenville and 20-40 mm in . In Western Labrador over 50 cm of Snow in 3 days! Peak winds were clocked at over 100 km/h.

 

-Yet another system passes Southeast of the Avalon. More shoveling for St. John's, with Snowfall totals in the 12-15 cm range across the Avalon.

 

-We could certainly call this one, the strongest Storm of the season for the Province. The central pressure of this one dropped to a very impressive 947 mb! Wind was the big headline with our early February storm. Peak wind gusts were in the 120-140 km/h range. Bonavista had gusts of 122 km/h, which was enough to cause damage. Gander recorded winds gusts of 120 km/h, for the first time in 17 years! 15-30 cm of Snow dropped along the West Coast and we had 15-30 mm of Rain in Eastern Nfld. In Labrador, 64 cm fell in Nain and 52 cm in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which was the 2nd largest one day snowfall total on record.

 

-The West Coast takes another pounding.

 

-Our 4th system in 4 weeks passes Southeast of the Avalon dropping yet another 10 cm on St. John's and the Metro area.

 

-A quick shot of Snow and Wind for the Island, more Snow Squalls fire up along the West Coast.

 

-Last weekend's Storm dropped a lot of Snow across the Island, but the most from Southern Newfoundland and up into Central. The picture above was taken in Rose Blanche last Sunday. In the end, 55 cm in Gander, 49 cm in Terra Nova, 28 cm in Bonavista & 22 cm in St. John's.  Peak Wind Gusts over 100 km/h. Wreckhouse tops out at 141 km/h.

 

-Our latest system dropped a widespread 10-20 cm of Snow across the Island. 20 cm in Gander, 18 cm in Stephenville, 12 cm in Deer Lake and 10 cm in St. John's.

 

AND BREATHE... for a few days anyway. For the first time since late January, we have 3-4 day stretch with no systems rolling in. That all changes again Sunday/Monday with another Snow, Wind & possibly Rain system for NL. (Stay tuned to the Live Blog for more on that) As of now, it appears this will stay some what active with another system mid next week and possibly another system moving through the area next weekend. Of course, this is loooong range and "take it with a grain of salt territory."

 

Beyond next week, the even longer range 16 day GFS model outlook has been hinting at a bit of a pattern change. That model has been flirting with the idea of a Greenland High type setup for late February and into early March. A quick look at the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) forecasts, shows it's not alone, with forecast models indeed trending toward a pattern change and more negative NAO over the next few weeks. 

 

This is even larger grain of salt territory, but something to watch for sure. A more negative NAO tends to bring Higher pressure over Greenland and Iceland, which can slow down this active West to East pattern of systems we've been seeing over Newfoundland. 

We shall see!

 

Ryan