Winter returns to Quebec & Ontario

The Christmas Day windstorm produced gusts to over 100knm/h (60mph) across a wide area from western New York including Buffalo (above) to southern Quebec. Trees were knocked down and power was out to thousands of homes including nearly 35,000 in Quebec. (Photo via Twitter)

After a record breaking warm Christmas period, Montreal will return to much colder weather this week. The temperature rose above freezing during the morning hours on Tuesday, December 23 and only fell back below 0C (32F) around 6:30pm Sunday evening, a period of over 128 hours. This establishes a new above freezing record for Montreal in December, the previous being 98 hours in 1964.

Just how mild was it? The average temperature in the city through the Christmas week was 6C (43F), the normal should be around -5C (23F). We also managed to loose the 30cm (1 foot) of snow on the ground in about 36 hours and are only left with patches. This has not been very good news for ski resorts and those who like to snowmobile or snowshoe, or even outdoor skate for that matter. Some ski resorts claim business was down over 90% for the Christmas break so far. My grass even has hints of green in it after the 35mm of rain Christmas Eve. Strong thunderstorms and even tornadoes were reported Christmas Eve in the US. Thunderstorms were reported in Ontario.

MUCH COLDER POSSIBLE STORM
There is some hope for those who prefer more traditional winter weather. You will be shocked when you step outside this morning as the temperature has fallen overnight to around -8C (17F) currently on L'Ile Perrot. Add to that a very gusty northwest wind in the 30-50km/h range and the temperature feels like -15C. There were a few flurries around as a cold front crossed the area overnight, but no accumulation was reported in Montreal. It will be cold today and all week with temperatures back to normal values. Some light snow is possible on New Years Day and a more significant storm may affect southern Ontario and Quebec by Saturday. This potential storm will make big news this week as it affects the US southwest. Snow is forecast for some parts of metro L.A. into Nevada including Las Vegas.