Valentine's Day winter storm warning upgraded to blizzard warning

Button up, St. John's: the winter storm warning for the area is now a blizzard warning.

Environment Canada upgraded the statuslate Monday for St. John's and vicinity assevere weather is expected to start early Tuesdayand continue into Wednesday.

CBCmeteorologist Ryan Snoddon warned Mondayabout the "dynamic duo" of heavy snowfall and high winds that will wreak weather havoc.

"Slowly but surely ramping up and then full-on blizzard conditions possible from mid-Tuesday morning right through to Tuesday afternoon," he said.

Expect between 15 and 25 centimetres on the Avalon, with the possibility of 35 in localized areas, according to Justin Boudreau, a meteorologist at the Gander weather office.

• Who says shovelling can't be romantic? Snow storm Valentine's Day greetings

Additional snowfall amounts on Tuesday night and into Wednesday will be less, but Boudreau said it "still could equal up to a fair bit by the end."

Meanwhile, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro announced Monday afternoon that Avalon customers will be on a power watch.

• Storm Centre: Eastern Newfoundland cancellations and closures

A statement from Hydro said the combustion turbine at the Holyroodplant "has been removed from service to investigate the cause of a trip" on Monday morning.

With customer demand expected to be high during peak periods Monday evening and Tuesday, and a blizzard in effect, Hydro will be monitoring the electricity system closely.

While the utility has not made a conservation request yet, it is asking for customers to be prepared to conserve if that changes.

'Quite a bit of oomph'

Boudreau said Nova Scotia is getting the brunt of the system Monday, with a possible 70 to 80 centimetres of snow forecasted for Monday, and Newfoundland will get the remnants of it Tuesday.

"It's losing a bit of a steam as its's going by, but it's still got quite a bit of oomph left."

As the storm looms, Boudreau has a warning for people who are typically last-minute shoppers.

"Get your Valentine's Day plans done early."

Fearing that snow will affect one of the busiest days for flower shops, Holland Nurseries in St. John's tried to get ahead of the storm.

Looking at the forecast, owner John Frecker made the decision Sunday to make all the Feb. 14 deliveries a day early.

"We had to contact about 200 people to tell them we were making these changes," he said.

"We have last-minuteorders on top of that so it makes for a huge logistical problem to try and keep that moving."

Frecker and his staff started early Monday morning and worked into the night to get the work done, but it wasn't easy.

"People have been calling back trying to make alternate arrangements," he said."Sometimes it is changed addresses because they wanted deliveries to the work pace and the person is not working today, and trying to juggle all that is a challenge."

Environment Canada is warning of blowing snow and wind for southwest Newfoundland on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, with its winter storm warning in effect for the southeast for Monday night through Wednesday, and for the northeast from Tuesday through Wednesday.