Wicked winter storm to pound New England - miss Montreal

Once again Montreal will remain on the western edge of a coastal snowstorm.

There is plenty of weather to talk about this morning so let's get right into it. First it is another cold morning in Montreal, but very calm. The current temperature at my home on L'Ile Perrot is -25C (-13F). Montreal can expect sunshine today with a high near -12C. Yesterday was cold in the east but record warmth occurred across western Canada. Dozens of new record highs were established including 17.2C (63F) in Calagry and 9.6C (49F) in Edmonton. On the east coast what was left of the first snowstorm to affect Atlantic Canada produced winds in excess of 150km/h in Newfoundland. That same storm brought 15-30cm of snow over the weekend to most of Atlantic Canada.

Powerful Historic Nor'Easter
That brings us to the current storm, a weak, unsuspecting area of low pressure meandering across the Ohio Valley this morning. That system will move off the middle Atlantic coast today and explode into a powerful Nor'Easter. The storm will then slowly move northeast towards Nova Scotia over the next 48 hours. With arctic air in place, copious amounts of Atlantic moisture will be drawn into New York and New England producing historic snowfalls in some locations. The computer models are indicating 2 to 3 feet (60-90cm) of snow in a swath from metro New York and New Jersey into central Massachusetts. In addition to the snow, strong winds will gust to hurricane force along the coast and perhaps 50mph inland. Visibility will be nil in snow and blowing snow with travel nearly impossible on Tuesday. Coastal flooding will also impact the region especially along the flood prone Massachusetts and New Hampshire coasts. With blizzard conditions forecast, expect major travel delays anywhere along the east coast on Tuesday and perhaps Wednesday. The storm will also impact interior portions of New England, Quebec and Atlantic Canada with 15-30cm of wind whipped snow.

At this time, the St. Lawrence Valley and Montreal are expected to remain on the western edge of the storm with a cold northeast wind to 60km/h as well as a few flurries. Snowfall amounts in the city will be light as high pressure over us will limit mositure. As you move south and east towards Sherbrooke and Vermont, snow amounts will increase to between 5-15cm. Beyond the border area it just keeps getting deeper as you head south and east. I strongly recommend postponing any travel plans that take you into New England or east into portions of the Gaspe or the Maritimes Tuesday.