**** Info via the NS Weather Service
It was 16 years ago today that Nova Scotia was slammed with a blizzard/nor’easter dubbed White Juan. The blizzard came five months after Hurricane Juan made landfall in Nova Scotia and many say White Juan was a hurricane in disguise.
The storm’s central pressure dropped 57 mb in 42 hours, making it one of the most explosive weather bombs ever, according to Environment Canada, which adds it was more powerful than Hurricane Juan that struck the same area five months earlier. The heavy snow combined with wind gusts up to 124 km/h in some locations created zero visibility.
Snowfall rates of five centimetres per hour were recorded for 12 straight hours. Blowing snow and high winds maintained blizzard conditions for a day or more and created snow drifts as tall as three metres. Shearwater Airport reported a whopping 95.5 cm of snow, Halifax Stanfield 66.8 cm, Yarmouth Airport 82.6 cm and Sydney Airport 67.4 cm. Halifax and Yarmouth broke all-time 24-hour snowfall records.
A province-wide states of emergency was declared. Halifax issued a nightly curfew over three days for all but essential workers in order clear the snow. It took almost a week before bus and ferry service resumed and schools re-opened.
I look forward to reading any stories or memories you have of White Juan.
-Above information supplied by Environment Canada-
The memory of “White Juan”, that stands out, was the February meeting of The Halifax Amateur Radio Club, that Wednesday evening, … We had just finished up with club business, and the scheduled event was to be a trip over to Halifax Harbour Traffic, which had recently moved over by Shannon Park. The storm had already started, during the meeting. We all congregated outside of the club station, arranging who was driving who where. So, we drove from Bloomfield, over to Dartmouth. By this time, you could no make 70 KM/h over the MacKay Bridge. 10 minutes later, everyone arrived at Coast Guard / D.F.O. / Harbour Traffic, and proceeded inside, to both get out of the wind & snow, as well as to get a look at hout vessels were instructed as to where to go, and what to avoid, … ETC. We arrive at Coast Guard HHT at roughly 8:00 PM. By 9:20 PM, I had stepped out for a quick look, only to rush back in and loudly announce that if we were going to be sure to make it back to our places of humble abode, that we had better leave “NOW”!! Remember that the storm had started sometime just after 7:00, … . So, by 9:20 PM, there was probably a good 4 – 5 inches down. As far as I am aware, everyone got to where they were going, … But the next morning, those of us who had power, woke up to “Brownouts”. I understand that it took 2 – 3 weeks, to completely get streets, roads, and thoroughfares, cleared, to what could be called “Normal”.