Winter - East Coast NL - St. John's Rod and Gun Club
March 8, 2020
Story by: Andrea Bassan
Winter on the east coast of NL has been relentless. Snowstorm after snowstorm has the snow piling up in record amounts. As of today, we're just over 400 cm total for this winter.
Winter seems to have started with Stormageddon - a massive snowstorm and blizzard that struck the east coast of NL on Friday, January 17. The official snow count was 75 cm of snow - that's a one day record. Some local measurements were over 90cm. The wind blew 130 km/hr with gusts recorded at 150 km/hr. That's 30 - 36 inches of snow and 80 - 90 mph winds. The snowstorm lasted over 24 hrs and shutdown the NE Avalon Peninsula - that's the St. John's metro region.
The cleanup was a massive effort which had officials declare a State of Emergency that lasted 8 days. All schools and non essential were ordered to stay closed. Grocery stores, pharmacies, medical offices and gas stations were allowed to open on Day 3 for limited daytime hours only. Only emergency use of roads over night and into the morning was permitted.
Fortunately, there were no major power outages and no deaths as a result of the storm. The army was been called in help and concentrated on helping seniors and anyone else needing help. There were also lots of good news stories circulating social media - restaurants and ordinary people helping those that ran out of food and basic supplies and also providing meals to first responders and snow plow operators that are working non stop to clear snow from streets and highways.
The city of St. John's downtown core has a lot of narrow streets and the pictures of blocked roads and cars buried in snow are just incredible. Pictures of plows struggling to open major highways also gives you an idea of the massive clean up effort.
Here's some good local coverage.
This recent picture of the St. John's Rod and Gun Club's 4 trapfields compared to an early September photo taken during the 2019 Atlantic Provinces Trapshooting Championships gives another perspective of the amount of snow on the ground. Squad 1 to the line?
Photo credit: Mike Smith
I'm writing this during yet another snowstorm. The wind is howling and blowing the 25 cm of snow that has fallen since last night around pretty good. Paul Bailey, Brian Lewis, Peter Tucker, John Tucker and Monty Petipas are scheduled to leave today for Florida and the Southern Grand at the Silver Dollar Trap Club. Good luck fellas. Hope your flight gets out today.........
