Soggy, foggy and the odd record-setting blizzard: The wild year in N.L. weather

It was another wild and wacky year of weather here in Newfoundland and Labrador. From a wicked and windy winter, to a summer that we'll never —ever —forget, this past year was once again packed full of highs and lows.

Here's a look back at 2015.

Snow on snow on snow

The winter of 2015 was an active one. With storm, after storm, after storm rolling through the region.

​Big wind was the big theme through the winter season, and it all kicked off with five large storms in the month of January. 

One of the biggest was the three-day 78-cm monster in Labrador City, which actually closed the Trans Labrador Highway. 

Old man winter really kicked into high gear in February, which was the coldest on record in both Happy Valley - Goose Bay and Labrador City.

Eight more very strong winter storms blew through the region in the month of February. 

Most of these storms packed wind gusts of well over 100 km/h, including a top gust of 151 km/h in Rocky Harbour on Feb. 16.

Biggest blast of winter

That same storm dropped a whopping 94 cm in Cartwright, the largest single blast of the winter. Western Newfoundland was pummeled with its own 50-70 cm storm, which triggered an avalanche in Lark Harbour.

The hits kept coming in March. 

St. John's had its snowiest stretch of the winter season in mid-March when more than 60 cm of snow fell in just a five-day stretch. 

As the snow melts (slowly)

Spring was sluggish to start across the province with a colder-than-normal March and April for most. However, even in the depths of the rain, drizzle and fog, at least the snow was melting …

The snow took a little longer to melt along the west coast of the island, where it never really stopped falling last winter.

Through 90 days of January, February and March, only nine days were recorded with no snowfall in Deer Lake, and a record 592 cm of snow was recorded through the winter season.

In Stephenville the snow depth reached a record 262 cm, which is nine feet!

As we rolled into May, temperatures finally began to warm across the province. We had a dynamite May 24 weekend … at least most of us did. 

June was fairly uneventful across the province, but we ended the month with a solid push of 20° temperatures. Our hopes were high for July.

We had good reason to be optimistic. Remember that July 2014 was one of the best ever, with new records broken for heat across the island.

However, Mother Nature had other ideas for July 2015.

Brrrrrr! It's 'summer'!

​Just 23 hours were 20° or warmer in July of 2015: a striking contrast to July 2014.

It's almost inconceivable that we could go from the warmest July on record one year, to the coldest on record the next, but we did just that in St. John's.

We finished the month with an average high just shy of 16° and only 5 days above 20°.

The thousands of music lovers who headed to see Rod Stewart play St. John's on July 11 could only dream of having "hot" legs. 

How bad was it? Three times in July, St. John's highs were colder than those in Alert, Nunavut, Canada's northern-most weather station, at a latitude of 82°N!

Adding to the misery was all the rain and drizzle: 181 mm in just 31 days in St. John's was good enough for the second wettest July on record.

Feeling grounded

The timing couldn't have been worse for tourists and those trying to get in and out of St. John's International Airport. The terrible weather, plus the runway construction, added up to 224 flight delays or cancellations, which accounted for eight per cent of all flights in July. 

St. John's wasn't alone in its misery, as most of the province averaged colder-than-average temperatures. Gander recorded its third coldest July on record, and Happy Valley-Goose Bay finished in the top 10 coldest. 

Might as well laugh at it!

As the misery of July dragged on and on, people turned to humour to get through ... including the RNC and us here at the CBC.

Wanted: Summer

9 years ago

Duration 2:32

The RNC arrest meteorologist Ryan Snoddon for trafficking in RDF!

Why, look: summer!

As July came to a close, most were ready to throw in the towel and write off summer completely.

But you know what they say... better late, then never!

As the calendar flipped, so too did our summer. August rebounded beautifully across the province, especially in St. John's, where temperatures averaged warm enough for a Top 5 monthly finish! 

In Gander and Deer Lake, August finished as the warmest on record and Stephenville tied its all-time August record. 

Labrador City also had its second warmest August since record-keeping began. 

A warm start to autumn

And that warmth continued into September.

In fact, in St. John's, September actually finished warmer than July for just the second time on record. Temperature highs averaged a full 2° warmer, with more than double the amount of 20° days.

For the second time in three years, a funnel cloud was spotted in the Metro region. The funnel cloud above actually touched down and became a water spout on Conception Bay on Sept. 1.

Hello, Claudette; goodbye, Joaquin

Thankfully, for the third straight year, the tropical storm & hurricane season was a relatively quiet one here in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

A few close calls with tropical storm Claudette, which fizzled out on the way into the region and Hurricane Joaquin, which ended up tracking well to our southeast, but again no major impacts on land. 

And then ... it was back to winter.

November's storms

We got our winter storm feet wet in November with a 26 cm snowfall in Gander and then a 20+ cm event in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and the Labrador coast the following week. 

St. John's jumped in with a big 30 cm snowfall back on Dec. 4.

And now, with winter officially upon us, we prepare ourselves for another wild season.

No matter what Mother Nature throws our way, it's almost guaranteed to be interesting!