Labrador sees record low temps as winter weather wallops rest of province

Weather alerts are in effect for much of Newfoundland and Labrador on Saturday, including nearly the entire island portion of the province, as high winds, extreme cold and blizzard conditions continue through the day.

"She's quite the doozy," says Melissa Field, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, of the wild weather gripping much of the province.

Field said wind will be the "name of the game" on the east coast of the island, where wind warnings have been issued for the Avalon, Burin and Bonavista peninsulas, as well as for the Clarenville and Terra Nova areas. Gusts of between 70 and 100 km/h are expected in those areas through Saturday afternoon before diminishing in the evening.

"However, I really expect those winds to pick up with gusts of 110 [km/h] and up to 130 along parts of the coast into the evening for eastern Newfoundland in terms of the rest of the weekend." Field said.

Environment Canada is also warning of pounding surf and coastal flooding in each of those regions, as well as in Bay of Exploits and Green Bay-White Bay.

Blizzard and winter storm warnings have been issued for the rest of the island, with the exception of the Connaigre Peninsula, as well as for communities in southeastern Labrador.

As much as 15 centimetres of snow was already on the ground Saturday morning across much of the island, Field said.

While communities in southeastern Labrador are seeing blizzard conditions, Labrador City and the Churchill Valley area are also under extreme cold alerts. 

Field said Labrador West reached an all-time record low of –40.2 C Saturday, beating the previous record of –40 C.

"But the good news is," Field said, "folks in western Labrador should get a bit of reprieve from the cold temperatures tomorrow, with temperatures rising to a balmy –14 C."

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