Icy Sunday in Montreal to be followed by brutal cold

Lots of ice in Montreal after 12 hours of freezing rain.

Warnings have been allowed to expire. 150,000 without power in Quebec. Strong winds this evening will bring down more trees and power lines as we expect gusts over 80km/h.

The winter storm affecting Ontario east towards Atlantic Canada continues this morning in southern Quebec. As I expected the warm air aloft is having a very difficult time making it to the surface in the St. Lawrence Valley. While temperatures are at or above freezing just to the south of Montreal along the U.S. border, it remains a cold -5C (23F) here in the city. As a result sleet and freezing rain have been falling for the last several hours. This, after between 15-20cm of snow in the Montreal region. Roads are slushy to snow covered with plenty of ice around resulting in numerous accidents being reported by city and provincial police over the last 12 hours. Precipitation has changed over to rain south of Montreal and should do so in the city by noon. Precipitation will likely remain as freezing rain for the Ottawa Valley. Temperatures will slowly rise to around plus 4C (39F) today in Montreal before an arctic cold front arrives this evening. That front will produce flurries and strong winds between 40-70km/h as well as rapidly dropping temperatures. The mercury will fall down to -10C (14F) by morning and -17C (2F) by late in the day Monday for Montreal as well as Ottawa and eastern Ontario.

The clean up as started, pushing away the 15-20cm (6-8 inches) of snow that fell overnight across the Montreal region. Freezing rain occurring now will change to rain by noon. (ValleyWX)