If New England Isn't Snowy Enough For You, Try Buried Newfoundland

A ridiculous amount of snow on the ground
in St. John's Newfoundland after a 
month of record snowfalls. 

People in much of New England can be forgiven if they're not happy with the one, two or even three feet of snow on the ground at the cusp of March. 

If you want really big snow, head up to Newfoundland.

As the Toronto Star reports:

"Eastern Newfoundland has been pounded by series of storms that self so much snow, residents were posting on social media looking for help getting out of their homes and driveways. On Wednesday, some of the snow piles lining driveways in Paradise were as tall as houses."

THE STATS

As of yesterday, St. Johns, Newfoundland had received 178.2 centimeters, or 70.2 inches of snow in February. That's almost six feet of snow. 

This breaks the record for snowiest month on record, which had been 173  (68.1 inches) centimeter in December, 2000. The previous snowiest February, which was 170 centimeters or 66.9 inches back in February, 2006.  

February's snow in St. John's was relentless. The Weather Network reported on Friday: :

"St. John's Airport has recorded measurable snow on 22 out of 26 days so far this moth. Six of those days witnessed 10+ cm  (3.9 inches) of snowfall, with Feb. 2 notching 43.6 cm (17.2 inches of accumulation alone."

St. John's has had 385 centimeters  (151.6 inches) of snow so far this winter.  On average, they can expect another 98 centimeters (38.6 inches) of snow between and when summer finally arrives. 

If there is a bright side, St. John's is very unlikely to have a record snowy winter. That title belongs to 2000-01 with 648 centimeters (255.1 inches). 

Gander, Newfoundland has had 446 centimeters (175.6 inches) of snow so far this winter As of yesterday 109 centimeter (42.9 inches) of it was still on the ground.  

LIFE IN THE SNOW

St. John's has a population of about 110,000, with a total of 212,000 in the overall metro area up there. The city is used to snowy winters, but February, as noted above, has been insane.

Social media from St. John's was full of images of snow stacked against doors to the point people couldn't leave their homes; 

We saw how cities like Providence, Rhode Island and Fall River,Massachusetts had trouble finding places to put the three plus feet of snow they were clearing fron streets. It's exponentially worse in Newfoundland. 

St. Johns just recently got permission to dump snow in its harbor, which is usually big no-no due to environmental concerns. Normally, snow can be pushed off many streets onto lawns, where it will melt in the spring. 

But there's no more room to put snow aside like that. St. John's  has to do the tedious job of hauling it away to the harbor or snow dumps in and near the city. 

The work is expensive too.  St. John's has signed snow removal contracts to the tune of at least $3.5 million.

 Videos:

The snow in St. John's is insane, as you can see by this news clip. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Another news report from Newfoundland. I'm getting a backache just watching everybody shovel snow onto snowbanks nearly twice as tall as they are.  Again, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on that. 

And let's take a drive though the town of Paradise, near St. John's after the storms. Also some drone shots to add perspective. As always click on this link or if you see the image below, click on that.