The historic Bomb blizzard that slammed Newfoundland on January 17, 2020 is now on its way to Greenland.
But it left snow-buried neighborhoods, a slew of power outages and shattered records in its wake. Here the most amazing pictures and videos out there.
A few weeks ago, a sudden snow storm buried Iceland in meters of snow. A few days ago, a truck was blocked by huge snow drift on a highway in Idaho. Now, an extreme bomb blizzard left streets deserted across much of eastern Newfoundland on January 17, 2020, trapping people in their homes and prompting officials to declare a state of emergency in St. John’s. And the pictures and videos you will discover below are just insane!
I can’t stop watching it! #nlwx pic.twitter.com/TMXAhpSHzu
— Ashley Brauweiler (@a_brauweiler) January 18, 2020
The snow and wind storm was relatively short in duration but unusually ferocious even for an area used to powerful ocean storms during the winter.
This was one of the most infamous nor’easter/Atlantic seaboard storms ever.
Only a little bit further… #snowmaggedon2020 #nlblizzard2020 #nlwx pic.twitter.com/kR6Qi7cFeE
— Jill Bennett (@jbennett1304) January 18, 2020
During this new storm, St. John’s broke its record for the most snow in 24 hours, recording 30 inches, as the storm hit Newfoundland and Labrador on Friday.
Insane, no?
The only way home after a 17 hour blizzard is snowshoeing. #nlwx pic.twitter.com/23fCiTFExV
— Ashley Brauweiler (@a_brauweiler) January 18, 2020
A state of emergency continued in the provincial capital and elsewhere through Sunday as most businesses were ordered closed and few beyond emergency vehicles were allowed on the roads.
I think it counts as archeology at this point. #nlwx pic.twitter.com/aevcVs9siw
— Melissa Royle Critch (@melissaroyle) January 18, 2020
The province’s English school district announced that all schools on the Avalon Peninsula will be closed Monday.
Schools in the Discovery Collegiate system on the Bonavista Peninsula — which includes Discovery Collegiate, Matthew Elementary and Catalina Elementary — will also be closed Monday, along with École Rocher-du-Nord in St John’s.
Looking at this snow I would close everything down!
Current status. #nlwx pic.twitter.com/AD28xNHnKn
— Tom Baird (@BairdTom) January 19, 2020
Snow drifts rose 12 to 15 feet high on some highways. The Canadian armed forces were called in to help clear the deluge.
Pitts Memorial Drive earlier today near the Ruth Avenue interchange. @TW_GovNL reporting drifts on some highways between 12 and 15 feet high. #nltraffic #GovNL pic.twitter.com/R9gxuFpR0s
— Transportation and Works NL (@TW_GovNL) January 18, 2020
What about this punky car?
St. John’s International Airport measured 30 inches of snowfall Friday, its snowiest single day in records dating to 1942. The previous record of 26.9 inches was set in April 1999.
Totals in other areas were higher, and wind speeds of 100 mph or greater made it difficult to measure the snow amid blowing and drifting.
Shout out to our crews and mechanics working around the clock to clear the 1.12 mil sqm of asphalt, and our infrastructure and emergency response crews who are doing an outstanding job to get us prepared for commercial flights as soon as possible. #Snowmageddon2020 #yyt #nlwx pic.twitter.com/7vzBSed8iO
— St. John’s Airport (@stjohnsairport) January 19, 2020
Hurricane-force winds piled snow against homes, and residents woke Saturday to drifts that completely covered their cars and blocked first floors. As one person put it on Twitter atop a picture of icy white pushing all the way up their windows: “All we can do now is hibernate!”
All we can do now is hibernate! #nlwx #stormageddon2020 #nlblizzard2020 pic.twitter.com/Ad3I8Oqh0E
— Kim Porter (@ElijahPorterMom) January 18, 2020
And somewhere under all this snow is a row of cars and front doors. This is going to take a while.
Somewhere under all this is a row of cars and front doors. This is going to take a while. pic.twitter.com/RGmIeaJfsf
— Bob Hallett (@bobhallett) January 18, 2020
The storm was a bombogenesis and was accompanied by powerful winds of up to 74 mph or greater, with higher gusts, creating whiteout conditions.
Listen to that wind! #nlwx pic.twitter.com/hSee5Km3bA
— Ashley Brauweiler (@a_brauweiler) January 17, 2020
On Friday evening, about 10,000 people in the vicinity of St. John’s were without electricity. On Saturday, almost 7,000 customers in the St. John’s area were experiencing unplanned outages. Newfoundland Power says power has been restored to about 75 per cent of customers impacted by outages.
Our crews are out, patrolling by foot where necessary, to assess storm damage. Heavy snow drifts and narrow roads are making getting around tough. They’re on it, working hard to restore power safely! Thanks for everyone’s continued support. pic.twitter.com/E8cDoWVui1
— Newfoundland Power (@NFPower) January 18, 2020
Snow cleanup efforts in the province had to be suspended at times amid deteriorating weather.
Due to worsening weather conditions and limited visibility, #MountPearl has suspended snow clearing operations. Our operators have been asked to return to the Depot until weather conditions improve. The safety of our residents and operators remains our top priority. #nlwx
— City of Mount Pearl (@Mount_Pearl) January 17, 2020
The federal government approved Newfoundland and Labrador’s request for assistance in dealing with the aftermath of a record-smashing blizzard and has sent the army in to primarily clearing snow.
This was no ordinary storm. It is certainly something that Newfoundland residents will be talking about for the rest of their lives… I’ve never seen or experienced anything like it. By the way, look at these amazing snow drifts in Idaho. Find similar headlines on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [CBC, CBC1, WP]
That’s not an iceberg, it’s Newf.
So this is global warming?
This was a GIFT to Newfoundland from the SPIRIT OF ELECTIONS ‘PAST!’
And a warning from the SPIRIT OF ELECTIONS ‘FUTURE!’