Hey Folks,

I've been pouring over the official numbers from January and there was no surprise about 2 things.

1) Temperatures were WAY ABOVE normal again in Labrador.
2) Snowfall was WAY BELOW normal in Newfoundland.

As you folks in Labrador probably remember... January started right where December left off... warm. In fact, temperatures in Eastern Labrador rose above zero for the first 7 or 8 days of the month. Along the Coast, you only had 2 days in the first 13 days of the month where temps stayed below freezing. Cartwright and parts of Southeastern Labrador ended up 8 degrees ABOVE normal for the month!

In Newfoundland, again the story is Snow... the lack of it from Coast to Coast. In Deer Lake you were an amazing 65 cm BELOW average for Snowfall in January.

Here are the numbers.

St. John's- Again a couple of degrees above average, but the big stat here is the 30 cm below average for Snowfall.

January 09 Mean Temp: -3 Avg. January Temp: -4.8

January 09 Snow: 50.2 cm Avg Jan Snowfall: 80 cm

Gander- Snow, Snow, Snow. Where is it? A shocking 51 cm below what you usually see for Snowfall in January. Almost 3 degrees above normal for the month resulted in 74 mm of Rain in January!!! That's 44 mm above average of January.

January 09 Mean Temp: -4.6 Avg. January Temp: -7.4

January 09 Snow: 39 cm Avg Jan Snowfall: 90 cm

Deer Lake- You Snow Lovers on the West Coast were also hurting in January. 65 cm below average is unbelievable. Now despite the fact that you were 4 degrees above normal for the month, you only had 18 mm of Rain... which helped keep what little Snow you had.

January 09 Mean Temp: -5.0 Avg. January Temp: -8.9

January 09 Snow: 42.7 cm Avg Jan Snowfall: 108.1 cm

Cartwright- As I mentioned. In the first 13 days of January your temperature rose above zero 11 times!!! If you remember, in December Cartwright was 7 degrees above normal. Well in January you were 8 degrees above normal! Despite that fact, you actually ended up with more Snow that usual.

January 09 Mean Temp: -6.8 Avg. January Temp: -14.8

January 09 Snow: 110 cm Avg Jan Snowfall: 84.2 cm

Happy Valley-Goose Bay- Snowfall around the Lake Melville area was actually pretty close to average. Again your temperatures were way ABOVE normal for the month.

January 09 Mean Temp: -10.6 Avg. January Temp: -18.1

January 09 Snow: 69.8 cm Avg Jan Snowfall: 80.2 cm

Labrador City- You folks in Western Labrador won't be surprised to hear your temperatures were way ABOVE normal for the month of January as well. However you only had 3 days where temps actually rose up above the freezing mark. As a result, your Snowfall didn't suffer.

January 09 Mean Temp: -16.1 Avg. January Temp: -22.7

January 09 Snow: 72.2 cm Avg Jan Snowfall: 66.4 cm

SNOW FOR THE WEEKEND

But surprise, surprise, this won't be a big shot for most of Newfoundland. A Low pressure system working in from the Southeast will pretty much miss the Island to the East. However thanks to some Blocking to the North... the Low will actually track back to the West a bit and into the Labrador Sea.
As it does, it should drop some light Snow across the Avalon and Northeast Coast on Friday and into Saturday. As the Low moves further Northwest towards Labrador, a steady band of Snow will work towards the Coast of Labrador on Saturday morning dropping some pretty decent Snowfall there.

-Right now, as I mentioned most of the Snowfall will be along the Northeast Coast. Looks like they'll be totals could be as much as 15 cm. The further inland you go the more the totals drop.
-The Northern Peninsula us the one spot on the Island that could see some decent snowfall. Maybe as much as 20-30 cm.
-Depending on how long this thing stalls in the Labrador Sea... you folks along the Coast of Labrador could see some BIG snowfall totals between Friday night and Monday. Over 30 cm perhaps.

It's only Wednesday and things will no doubt change... so I'll keep you updated.

Ryan