Many areas of the Avalon and Burin Peninsulas saw snow, ice pellets, and freezing rain overnight into the morning hours today. While the ice pellets are annoying, they generally will not lead to a severe weather event. Freezing rain, on the other hand, can. And in this case, it has. There has been significant ice buildup on parts of southern Avalon, and trees, power lines, and almost everything else are caked in it.

At one point this morning, the Newfoundland Power Outage Centre reported nearly 700 customers were without power in the area. That number has since been reduced to 137 customers as of 1:13 PM. Hopefully, we won’t see more outages reported during the storm.

REST OF TODAY

Snow will begin to ease west of the Avalon, Burin, and Bonavista Peninsulas this afternoon. Any mix or ice pellets will change over to snow this afternoon on the eastern three Peninsulas. This has already happened in the north and will continue in the south over the next several hours. The snow will end on the Bonavista Peninsula this evening, the Burin Peninsula overnight and the Avlaon at some point tomorrow morning.

The snowfall rates on the Avalon will increase this afternoon and stay high into much of the overnight. Expect rates up to 5 cm an hour for several hours as we move into the second half of the day and this evening. The snowfall rates will ease Saturday morning, and the snow should end before noon.

Snowfall amounts will be highest on the Avalon Peninsula, specifically northern areas, including the Metro, where up to, or perhaps over, 80 cm will fall. Areas to the west will see less, and areas south will see less due to a prolonged period of ice pellets and freezing rain.

I’ll have a more detailed update for you later this evening on NTV.ca and will have your latest forecast on NTV starting at 5:30 PM