GANDER, N.L. — A late-spring storm that buried cars in snow and closed a slew of schools in Newfoundland was prompting dismay — and disbelief — from residents along the island's northeast coast Thursday.
Photos posted on social media showed a barbecue entombed in snow and drifts that reached halfway up a front door.
"Meanwhile in Gander ... my daughter is waxing her skis. Why? Why? Why?" wrote Twitter user David Newell.
Environment Canada meteorologist Linda Libby said more than 35 centimetres fell at Gander International Airport overnight and into Thursday, while more than 36 centimetres was recorded at Terra Nova National Park.
A tour company in Hare Bay, N.L., that specializes in guided hiking and fishing trips joked about the unseasonal weather.
"I guess we can start our snow shoe season early this year... lol," Hare Bay Adventures tweeted, posting a photo of a driveway and porch blanketed in fresh snow.
Libby said while the snow was expected to taper off Thursday afternoon, strong northeast winds gusting to 80 kilometres an hour were forecast to persist throughout the day. Drivers were warned that visibility could be reduced due to blowing snow.
"Today is still going to be very ugly on the island," said Libby from Charlottetown, P.E.I., adding that the temperature was hovering around -2 C in Gander. "It's very cold, winter-like conditions despite the fact it's the 24th of May."
But spring snow storms are not unheard of for this time of year in the province. In fact, some Newfoundland and Labrador folklore submits snow that falls in May has healing qualities.
Larry Dohey, director of programming at The Rooms art gallery, cultural museum and archives in St. John's, N.L., said his Irish ancestors from Newfoundland's Cape Shore region suggested bottling May snowfalls and using the liquid on your face as a way to soften freckles.
"My Irish ancestors always said, 'A snowfall in May will take freckles away'... Imagine looking out and seeing the snow and dashing out on our lawn with your little jar and filling it up and when that melts, you apply it to your face, and it takes away or softens the freckles," said Dohey.
Dohey also insisted on adding a disclaimer for Newfoundland residents with freckles who were considering collecting a sample of Thursday's snowfall: "A face without freckles is like a night without stars."
Other traditions propose May snow as a cure for sore eyes, he said.
Dohey said the seal fishery traditionally ended in late April or early May, and the men who went sealing often refused to wear goggles, "because goggles were considered very unmanly-like."
"You would often become snowblind because of the sun shining on the snow. Your eyes would start to sting and hurt," he said. "So when they came home, that sting would still be there, and so when the May snow came around, it acted as a cooling agent."
In John K. Crellin's 1994 book "Home Medicine: The Newfoundland Experience," he offers another explanation for the May snow folklore.
"One Newfoundland informant thought this practice was linked with May being the month of the Virgin Mary and the need to receive her blessing," Crellin writes.
"Perhaps, too, there was a vague link with a common treatment for sore eyes in Ireland, namely, the water of certain holy wells."
Dozens of schools in the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District delayed opening or were closed Thursday.
Libby said the snowfall was likely bringing back memories for those who lived in Gander five years ago. More than 69 centimetres fell in that town on May 18 and 19, 2013.
Meanwhile, parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan remained under a heat warning Thursday, where temperatures were expected to reach 29 C.
