The first winter storm of 2026 hit eastern Newfoundland on Jan. 5, dropping about 20 centimetres of snow on St. John’s. Schools closed, Metrobus and GoBus stayed off the roads during the morning, flights were delayed or cancelled, and winds gusting to 70 km/h cut visibility across the Avalon Peninsula.
The capital digs out
Residents of eastern Newfoundland woke on Monday to knee-deep drifts and cancelled classes as the first storm of the new year howled outside their windows. Most of the snow fell overnight, and Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist David Neil said about 20 centimetres had come down on St. John’s by the morning of Jan. 5.
Local reports early in the day put 12 centimetres on the ground at St. John’s International Airport, with a few more centimetres expected before the system tapered off later in the morning. Winds gusting between 60 and 70 km/h whipped the snow around, leaving road conditions hazardous in spots and visibility poor across the metro area.
By day’s end, residents were shovelling out from under the deepest snowfall of the young year, and the cleanup was only beginning.
Closures ripple across the Avalon
Schools in the metro region were closed for the morning at first, with officials promising an update around 10:30 a.m. — a decision that soon became a full-day closure as the storm continued. City buses stayed off the roads entirely until later in the afternoon. Metrobus and GoBus both suspended morning service, with the transit agencies telling riders to expect a further update at noon.
The disruption extended to the airport, where a slew of arriving and departing flights at St. John’s International were delayed or cancelled. Several businesses in the capital also closed for the day or pushed back their opening hours, and government and municipal services ran on storm schedules.
The brunt of the system was contained to the eastern portion of the island, particularly the Avalon Peninsula, while communities in central Newfoundland reported lighter snowfall amounts. Even so, the storm was enough to shut down much of the capital of a province that is hardly unfamiliar with winter weather — a measure of both the snowfall and the wind that came with it.
The fourth storm since Christmas
Though it was the first storm of 2026, Neil pointed out it was technically the fourth storm to hit the region since Christmas Day. The back-to-back systems have pushed snowfall in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador above average for December, he said, capping a run of unsettled holiday weather that kept plows and shovels busy through the season.
There is a silver lining in the snowbanks, at least for the province’s watersheds. Neil said the steady accumulation is exactly what is needed to avoid a repeat of the drought-like conditions that plagued much of Newfoundland and Labrador this past summer, when dry conditions strained water supplies and raised wildfire concerns.
For St. John’s, the storm set the tone for the winter ahead: a working Monday cancelled by weather, a city digging out by afternoon, and — if the pattern since Christmas holds — more systems likely on the way before the season is done.
