Snow in late May causes dismay
GANDER, N.L. — A late-spring storm that buried cars in snow and closed a slew of schools in Newfoundland was prompting dismay — and disbelief — from residents along the island’s northeast coast Thursday.
Photos posted on social media showed a barbecue entombed in snow, and drifts that reached halfway up a front door.
“You would think you were in January,” said one employee of the Gander Public Library, which opened four hours late after the town plowed the streets. “People have been golfing, and raking, everything here was very spring-like. So this has set us back.”
Environment Canada meteorologist Linda Libby said more than 35 centimetres fell at Gander International Airport overnight and into Thursday, while more than 36 centimetres was recorded at Terra Nova National Park.
Josie Wells, a cashier at Canadian Tire in Gander, said customers were coming in Thursday to ask for “mostly snow shovels that we don’t have. We’re into summer now, right?”
“A lot of them are just taking a garden shovel, which is not much good.”
Dozens of schools in the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District delayed opening or were closed Thursday.
Libby said while the snow was expected to taper off Thursday afternoon, strong northeast winds gusting to 80 kilometres an hour were forecast to persist throughout the day. Drivers were warned that visibility could be reduced due to blowing snow.
“Today is still going to be very ugly on the island,” said Libby from Charlottetown, P.E.I., adding that the temperature was hovering around -2 C in Gander. “It’s very cold, winter-like conditions despite the fact it’s the 24th of May.”