Sloppy, stormy weather hits much of Newfoundland

It's been a wild and quite frankly weird weather start to the first full week of 2015, with a storm that has closed some schools and made driving treacherous.

The temperature is expected to soar to 11 C Monday in St. John's, following a blanket of more than 10 centimetres of snow overnight.

The weather has caused a number of cancellations and postponements as schools were reopeningfollowing the Christmas break.

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Several schools in western and central Newfoundland, including in such communities as Port Saunders, St. Anthony and Twillingate, were closed for the day as crews dealt withsnowfall and messy roads.

The snow hadchanged to rain during the morning hours, causing challenging driving conditions as motorists took to the highways and streets.

The upward swing in temperatures comes on the heels of freezing temperatures that had been sending chills throughout much of the province in recent days.

2 sent to hospital

Poor weather and road conditions contributed toone accident on the BonavistaPeninsula Highway late Monday morning.

The RCMP responded to atwo-vehicle collision at 10:40 a.m. just north of Little Catalina.

A man and a woman were taken to hospital in Bonavista with injuries. Police said their lives are not at stake.

The police noted that road conditions were less than ideal at the time, with slushy sections.

Strong winds expected

The wackiness is not over yet.Strong southwesterly winds gusting to 100 kilometres/hourare forecast to develop over most of coastal Newfoundland through the day and into Monday night.

Winds will subside either later overnight or Tuesday morning.

Forecasters are warning that loose objects may be tossed about by the winds.

The unusually high temperatures will fall this evening to a low of -7 C in St. John's and -9 C in Corner Brook as showers changeto flurries, with the winds continuing to pack a punch of up to 80 km/h.

Marine Atlantic ferry crossings are cancelled for both the 11:45 a.m. and 11:45 p.m. sailings Monday, and some flights are also delayed.