More snow expected late Saturday for Montreal

This mornings snow sure put everyone in a bad mood in Montreal. I took more abuse today for being a weather nerd than I can remember since my high school days. Around 5cm of snow fell rapidly between 5 and 8am snarling morning traffic and adding to the frustrations of a long winter and late spring. The much advertised warm air was tempered by heavy rain most of the day with about 13mm here on L'Ile Perrot. That managed to keep temperatures in check with a high of only plus 3C (38F) which is still below normal. It is still raining tonight as a cold front moves across the St. Lawrence Valley. Temperatures will drop tonight to just below freezing as the front moves south of Montreal and into central New York state. We may see some brief sun on Saturday with a high of 4C (40F). Clouds will increase late in the day with a mix of rain and snow developing by evening.

WEEKEND STORM?
The aforementioned front will stall across New York state and become the focus for moisture moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. This sets up a difficult forecast for the weekend. Previous thinking was the front would move far enough south to leave us under high pressure with sunshine and mild air for the weekend. It does not look like that now. The front will remain close enough to draw moisture into southern Quebec. To add to this complicated forecast will be a developing low pressure over North Carolina that will move along the east coast. Both these features will combine to produce a period of wet snow and rain Saturday night into Sunday morning. The question is, will it be cold enough for accumulating snow? If it is, we may see 10-15cm of snow from Montreal into northern New York and the Eastern Townships by Sunday morning. Currently winter storm watches have been hoisted for the Townships and northern NY/Vermont.

As always I welcome any questions, comments or weather photos, which I will share with my readers.