Strong winds, snow squalls close schools, wreak havoc across Newfoundland
Blizzard, wind conditions closes some schools in coastal Labrador
Some schools were closed in Newfoundland Monday morning due to blowing snow, while other parts of the island were battered by winds that delayed flights, damaged buildings and knocked out power.
- Storm Centre Newfoundland west
- Storm Centre Newfoundland east
- Storm Centre: central Newfoundland
- Storm Centre: closures in Labrador
Some schools across Newfoundland and Labrador were closed for the day Monday, due to weather conditions.
MUN's Grenfell Campus and College of the North Atlantic in Corner Brook were also closed for the morning, but reopened for the afternoon.
Wind gusts
Eastern Newfoundland is being battered by high winds Monday morning, which have caused power outages and travel delays.
Schools on the Burin Peninsula and on the southern Avalon have also been closed for the morning with updates at 10:30 a.m.
Winds were so strong that a portion of the roof on Frank Roberts Junior High in Conception Bay South blew off.
2 vehicles heavily damaged after tree topples over near Native Friendship Centre on Water St <a href="https://t.co/eTZRpsEKIM">https://t.co/eTZRpsEKIM</a><a href="https://t.co/ME6W5yE04s">https://t.co/ME6W5yE04s</a>
—@CBCNLHere's <a href="https://twitter.com/FrazzleDazzleee">@FrazzleDazzleee</a> describing the winds in <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofStJohns">@CityofStJohns</a> today. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcnl?src=hash">#cbcnl</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nlwx?src=hash">#nlwx</a> <a href="https://t.co/GGRrIDwFj1">pic.twitter.com/GGRrIDwFj1</a>
—@TRobertstPower outages
Just after 4 a.m., Newfoundland Power was reporting a large power outage in the east end of St. John's as a result of what it was calling severe weather conditions.
Crews were on still on site at 5:30 a.m. trying to restore electricity to the Torbay Road, Logy Bay Road, MacDonald Drive, Pleasantville Avenue and Bally Haly areas.
Newfoundland Power's website was showing that service had been restored to most of the east end of St. John's by 6:20 a.m.
Around 9:22 a.m., power was also knocked out in the Goulds, Bay Bulls Road, Shoal Bay Road, Cleary Drive and Keith Drive due to severe weather. Newfoundland Power says it expects power to be restored by 10:30 a.m.
Crews are also making emergency repairs, after power outages on Jackman Drive and Ruby Line.
The weather also caused outages in the St. Mary's and Middle Gull Pond areas.
Building damage
The winds also caused damage to buildings, including loosening siding panels on the Field House at Memorial University.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary closed Westerland road to traffic 8 a.m., due to blowing debris, and MUN announced a short time later the Field House and Aquarena would be closed for the morning.
Parking lot at Field House is closed. Building remains open. Winds blow off exterior siding. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nltraffic?src=hash">#nltraffic</a> <a href="https://t.co/PjZBE0pGaC">pic.twitter.com/PjZBE0pGaC</a>
—@cecilhaireTravel delays
At St. John's International Airport, over a dozen departing flights were cancelled overnight and into Monday morning.
The high winds were also causing problems with Marine Atlantic ferries, with the Monday morning crossings from both Port aux Basques and North Sydney being cancelled.
We've clocked 159km/hr on the side of Signal Hill. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NLwx?src=hash">#NLwx</a> <a href="https://t.co/9kaP9qWRHO">pic.twitter.com/9kaP9qWRHO</a>
—@180signalWind speeds were consistently blowing at 67 km/h at the airport in St. John's throughout the morning, with gusts at times reaching up to 118 km/h.
Environment Canada had dozens of special weather advisories in effect for much of Newfoundland and Labrador on Monday, with wind warnings combining with winter storm and snow squall warnings in some areas.
