ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — One of the worst storms in the province’s history, Snowmageddon ranked in the Top 5 of this year’s Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Top 10 weather stories of 2020.
Climatologist David Phillips presented the list virtually on ECCC’s Facebook page.
Phillips said St. John’s residents know snow, noting it’s the snowiest city in Canada — but he called the Jan. 17 storm a “snowpocalypse.”
"You know it’s tough in St. John’s when they call in the army."
It was his fifth-biggest weather story in Canada this year.
“The city was entombed in snow,” he said.
Phillips talked about the record-breaking snowfall — it dumped more than 90 centimetres of snow in some parts of the St. John's metropolitan area, and there was already a lot of snow on the ground. On top of that, winds gusted to 134 km/h, creating snowdrifts up to 15 feet high in some places.
Phillips also mentioned the avalanche in The Battery as contributing to the intensity of the situation.
“You know it’s tough in St. John’s when they call in the army,” he said.
Hundreds of Canadian Armed Forces members arrived to help shovel out snowbound residents.
Rounding out the Top 5
- 4. Eastern Canada’s endless hot summer
- 3. Flooding in Fort McMurray
- 2. British Columbia’s smoky September skies
- 1. Calgary’s billion-dollar June hailstorm
He noted the blizzard made headlines around the world. Indeed, The Telegram wrote about the extensive international coverage just a couple of days after the storm. It was covered by the Washington Post, CNN and The Daily Mail, and made headlines in France, Brazil, Switzerland and Australia.
Phillips said he compiled 93 weather stories that could have made his Top 10 list, but ultimately he selected weather events based on their duration, the size of the area affected and the disruption they caused.
Overall, Phillips said 2020 was one of the most drastic years for weather, both in terms of the number of people affected by disruptive weather events and the financial costs.