Blizzard warning ends as eastern Newfoundland cleans up from 2-day storm

Schools, courts and stores closed en masse Wednesday as the second day of a ferocious storm brought daily life to a standstill in eastern and central Newfoundland.

A blizzard warning was lifted Wednesday afternoon, ending a two-day siege that dumped 57 centimetres of snow over the region.

All metro St. John's schools closed again for the day, as did Memorial University, the provincial courts and numerous private businesses.

As an indication of the power of the storm, the Avalon Mall the capital city's largest shopping centre also closed for the day.

• Eastern Newfoundland Storm Centre: Closures and cancellations
• Storm Centre: Central Newfoundland delays and closures
• Western Newfoundland closures and cancellations in our Storm Centre

Like Tuesday, Wednesday's storm brought heavy snowfalls and high winds that created white-out conditions on highways that stretched across the Avalon Peninsula and north toBonavista.

Memorial University and the MarineInstitute cancelled all classes for the day and evening.

Mail delivery suspended

Canada Post warned customers in St. John's and in the Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor areas that delivery has been suspended, and will resume once it is safe for workers to get back on the roads.

The post office said weather was also affecting delivery in other areas, including Clarenville and the Burin and Bonavista peninsulas.

In the meantime, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is advising of treacherous driving conditions on the Avalon.

Newfoundland Power crews are en route to investigatean unplanned outage due to severe weather in the Western Bay and Salmon Cove area.

Metrobus suspended its service in St. John's, saying that buses will be back on the road Thursday.

Red ink on the arrivals board

At St. John's International Airport, numerous flights were cancelled and delayed for the second day.

Alex Kleminsky, a meteorologist who works with Environment Canada's Gander weather office, said snow accumulation in St. John's was at around 45 centimetres by 5:30 a.m. NT. An additional 12 cm fell by the end of Wednesday afternoon.

In Terra Nova by Wednesday morning, there were38 centimetres of snow on the ground, with 27 in Bonavista and 21 in Gander.

Heavy snowfall that made driving risky during the morning and early afternoon tapered to flurries laterin the afternoon, allowing people to start the cleanup process.

Wet Thursday morning ahead

If you think the snow is a mess, just wait for Thursday's weather system.

Environment Canada is calling for snow mixed with ice pellets, switching to freezing rain or showers or snow flurries, through Thursday morning.

That wet weather will make shovelling Wednesday's snow that much harder.

Get the latest weather updates in CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon's weather blog.