Vehicles trying to manoeuvre the many hills in St. John's, N.L., on Monday were left slipping and sliding because of nearly 40 centimetres of snow that fell. (CBC)

The City of St. John's saw a record snowfall Sunday, as the region was hit with the first real taste of winter.

"The old record [for Dec. 6] was in 2002, and it was around 20 centimetres," meteorologist Wanda Rideout told CBC News. "The new record for yesterday is now 39.4 centimetres."

The heavy snow left many residents shovelling or hauling out snowblowers Monday morning, while drivers were left to manoeuvre along roads and highways that had either a layer of heavy-packed snow or built-up slush.

Morning traffic was tied up for a while in Airport Heights section of Portugal Cove Road, one of the busier thoroughfares in the city, when a city snowplow went off the road before 7 a.m. and a large crane had to be brought in to lift it out of a ditch.

The winter weather was brought on by an intense low pressure system that tracked south of the island throughout Sunday afternoon and into the night. The snow was driven by winds that gusted to 100 km/h in some areas.

The blinding conditions led police to advise people to stay off the roads on much of the Avalon Peninsula, while many events in the regions were cancelled or postponed.

There was also heavy snowfall outside of St. John's.

"As you move west toward Burin, on up to Clarenville, Bonavista, Terra Nova Park, anywhere from 20 to 30 centimetres fell," said Rideout, who works out of the Gander weather office. "Here in Gander, we received 11 centimetres."

Burgeo, on the province's south coast, received nearly 21 centimetres of snow.

The Marine Atlantic ferries that connect the south coast of Newfoundland to Nova Scotia are also affected by the weather.

High winds on the Nova Scotia side of the Gulf are causing delays.

The ferry Atlantic Vision, which normally arrives in Port Aux Basques, N.L., at 7:30 a.m., is running about three hours behind schedule.

The vessel is now expected at about 10:30 a.m.

Because of the delays, the Atlantic Vision will be operating on a load-and-go basis, as will the Marine Atlantic ferry Caribou, which is also delayed by high winds.