Winter 'mess' set to dump freezing rain, snow, and cold temperatures on N.L.
CBC
An approaching weather system is set to deliver a winter's wallop to Newfoundland and Labrador — but its exact track is still up in the air, leaving lots of uncertainty about what people can expect over the weekend.
Rain, freezing rain and snow are all on the menu, and the system will bring a "mess," says CBC N.L. meteorologist Ashley Brauweiler, but it's difficult to tell how the system will move over the province.
That means it's hard to tell which communities will see mainly rain and freezing rain, and which towns will see more precipitation fall as snow.
"All the guidance is suggesting that we will see some significant freezing rain, but where that line sets up at the moment is what we need to figure out," Brauweiler said.
Freezing rain could develop Friday afternoon over the Avalon and Burin peninsulas, and bring ice accumulations of up to 15 to 20 millimetres, according to some models, Brauweiler said.
With that much freezing rain possible, Brauweiler said, people should prepare for possible power outages and be cautious about travel plans.
Farther west, communities in central Newfoundland could see up to 60 centimetres of snow, starting Thursday night and continuing into Saturday. Communities on the southern part of the Avalon Peninsula could see up to 100 millimetres of rain on Saturday.
"We did just see 78, 79 millimetres of rain in some areas last week," Brauweiler said. "We could see some more flooding, potentially even more road washouts as well."
Environment Canada has issued warnings for just about every region of Newfoundland, and residents of Labrador are being warned of extreme cold temperatures that might hit the Labrador West region and the north coast.
The Town of Bay Roberts is asking its residents to prepare some emergency supplies and to be careful with generators and other heating systems if power goes out for significant periods of time.
Justin Parsons, the town's director of protective services, says a secondary problem with power outages are fires and potential carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.
"People turn to different things, kerosene heaters, maybe unsafe extension cords trying to backfeed power services. So it's important for us as a municipality to get on top of that," he said.
Parsons said the town's fire chief will have crews ready for any emergencies over the weekend, and some members will be called into the station for a quicker response.
Newfoundland Power, which delivers electricity to Bay Roberts and most other communities in Newfoundland, said in a statement Thursday it has been watching the weather system develop, and has put crews on standby.