1st cut is the deepest, as winter snowstorm hits eastern Newfoundland

The first significant winter storm of the year has hit eastern Newfoundland and the Avalon Peninsula, leaving many in cleanup mode as of Monday afternoon.

By mid-morning on Monday, 40 centimetres had fallen in the St. John's metro area and the winter storm warning issued for much of the eastern part of Newfoundland had been lifted.

Residents like Bob Davis were out in droves in the morning as the snowfall tapered, finally giving them a chance to shovel.

"It's a bit of exercise. A change from a walk in the morning," said Davis.

"It's all good. No use getting upset, you've gotta learn to love it."

A snowfall warning for Gander and vicinity, as well as Bonavista North, has also been lifted. So far about 19 centimetres has fallen in central Newfoundland.

Wind gusts of up to 80 km/h made for near-zero visibility at times in the early morning hours. The Department of Transportation advised drivers to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.

CBC meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler said while the snow fell on and off throughout the afternoon only a few more centimetres will end up falling and the winds will be light.

Brauweiler said she is keeping her eye on another potential system that could see some wind and snow — which could change to rain — on the Avalon on Wednesday evening, but it's too early to say for sure.

Don't call it a blizzard

Brauweiler said the storm is driven by "a giant low-pressure system," and while whiteout conditions have been severe in some areas, it doesn't technically qualify as a blizzard.

"There's three things that have to happen: we have to have 40 km/h winds for four hours, with visibilities of less than 400 metres," said Brauweiler.

"We didn't hit that. The lowest [visibility] we got was 600 metres."

Crews working to restore power

Newfoundland Power says poor road conditions and visibility in many areas make restoration difficult for those without power.

According to the company's website, customers on the Burin Peninsula remain without power into Monday evening with the area of Lord's Cove - Point May without an estimated restoration time. 

In Branch, on St. Mary's Bay, Priscilla Corcoran-Mooney said freezing rain became snow and knocked out her electricity around midnight. Luckily, she has a generator, as many in the community do.

"I think bit by bit over the last 10 years or so, people started to make sure they had generators for the winter months, because we do lose our power quite frequently," said Corcoran-Mooney.

"It's an important thing to have, if you can have one."

All equipment on the road

St. John's Mayor Danny Breen said all the city's snow-clearing equipment is out on the roads Monday, starting with main roads 

"We work on a priority system for snow clearing, so our priorities are the main thoroughfares — the Parkway and Kenmount Road, those types of streets — and then the collector streets," he said, with residential streets third on the priority list. 

Breen said work has already begun to dig out the 160 kilometres of sidewalks cleared by the city, starting with areas around schools.

He said crews hope to start widening streets by Monday evening, with further efforts on Tuesday, as it takes "a fair bit of work" to clean up after a storm.

Closures and cancellations

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District closed schools for the day on the northeast Avalon, while a number of schools in the central region closed for the morning.

Provincial government offices in St. John's were closed for the morning, but reopened at 1:30 p.m. All City of St. John's and City of Mount Pearl facilities will remained closed and Monday's St. John's city council meeting was cancelled.

St. John's International Airport has recorded more than 30 centimetres of snow, according to Environment Canada, leading to delays and cancellations of a number of flights.

The ferry between Bell Island and Portugal Cove-St. Philip's is out of service due to the weather conditions.

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