A temperature roller coaster ride for Montreal

After the snow of Wednesday and Thursday we woke to clear skies in Montreal Friday morning, but it was cold with the early morning temperatures on L'Ile Perrot at -19C. It was a touch milder at the airport at -17C. The final snow totals are in and they fell into the forecast amount of 15-25cm, the most here on L'Ile Perrot and points south to the US border, with lesser amounts on the island of Montreal north into Laval and the Laurentians. Officially the airport had 17cm, while I measured 20cm (8 inches). Sherbrooke in the Eastern Townships was in the 30-35cm (12-14 inch) range while Burlington, Vermont had a whopping 45cm (18 inches). It was the 4th biggest March storm on record and 12th overall for Burlington.

The weekend forecast for Montreal will feature a brief rise in temperatures before they crash again on Sunday. We will go from our cold morning lows of -19C today up to 0C by late in the day. Look for a bit of light snow late this afternoon, perhaps 1-3cm. Tonight will be cloudy with temperatures rising to 4C by Saturday morning. Expect a few showers overnight that will turn back to flurries by noon Saturday as the mercury falls again. Low by Sunday morning will be cold around -12C with highs for the parade Sunday no better than -7C. It will at least be sunny and dry on Sunday.

Map from Accu-Weather.com

MARCH 1993 SUPER STORM

Today is the anniversary of the big super storm of March 13-14, 1993. Montreal had over 40cm of snow and fierce winds, enough to keep the Gazette delivery trucks in their driveways. (Mine was literally buried). The paper was cancelled that Sunday morning for the first and only time in my 15 year career at The Montreal Gazette. You can read more about that storm HERE.