The snow must go on: 30 cm or more expected for most of Newfoundland
Avalon Peninsula to see snowy periods plus rain and freezing rain, just snow for Clarenville and west
The month of March is not going down without a fight in Newfoundland, as more winter weather is set to move into the island over the next few days, dumping upwards of 30 centimetres of snow in many areas.
Two systems, a low moving in from the south and another low coming down from the north, will combine to create roughly 48 hours of messy weather for most of Newfoundland starting Thursday.
"That first low will stall as it approaches the island as a deeper low comes up from the south and captures it," said Dale Foote at the Gander Weather Office on Wednesday morning.
"That second low is what will dominate the weather through Thursday night, Friday and into Saturday."
30 cm or more
Foote said more than 30 centimetres is possible for most of the island by early Saturday, but that it won't be intense and will gradually accumulate over the course of Thursday and Friday. Snowfall should taper off for most of the island by Saturday morning.
Snowfall warnings are already in place for the Ramea/Connaigre area and for Green Bay/White Bay as snow is expected to start there Wednesday night as those two systems work their way in.
Avalon peninsula
On the Avalon Peninsula, five to 10 centimetres of snow is expected through Thursday, before changing over to rain and freezing rain on Friday.
Then the low will pull out Friday and the cold air will move back in and change over to snow, with another 20 to 25 centimetres expected during the day Friday.
Clarenville and west
For the rest of the island, snow will start falling Thursday and will continue into the weekend. Foote said only the Avalon region should see a period of rain and freezing rain on Friday, and most areas west of the Avalon could get 30 centimetres or more of snow by the time everything settles down Saturday morning.
"They shouldn't get the rain and freezing rain," he said. "Once the snow starts today it will probably keep going there until sometime late Friday or early Saturday."
Winds
Foote said while there will be strong wind gusts associated with the systems, they shouldn't be as bad as the hurricane-force winds that wreaked havoc throughout eastern Newfoundland three weeks ago.
He said winds should pick up from the northeast by Thursday and by Thursday night there could be gusts as strong as 80 km/h, and by Friday morning could be up to 100 km/h, but mostly over exposed areas.
"It's not the widespread damaging winds we saw back on that Brier Saturday," he said.
With files from St. John's Morning Show