Spring on hold in Montreal

Above & Below: Snowy late winter morning on L'Ile Perrot, Quebec. (The Suburban Weather Page Photos)

Nobody would blame you for staying in bed in eastern Canada this morning. A rather robust upper level low spinning over southern Quebec has been responsible for a wintry mix of precipitation over the last 24 hours. Rain, freezing rain and wet snow Saturday transitioned to a heavy wet snow overnight with 8-25cm falling across southern and eastern Quebec. I measured 9cm (3.5 inches) on my driveway here on L'Ile Perrot at 8am this morning. Sorel, Quebec reported 22cm of snow, Thetford Mines in the Townships 24cm and St Agathe 22cm. It is still snowing lightly with an increasing northwest wind. Roads have been plowed but are very icy with a temperature at -3C (27F).

The low will continue to produce snow today from Montreal east into Atlantic Canada. A second area of low pressure developing off the Atlantic coast will deepen rapidly and become the main system, blasting New Brunswick and Nova Scotia today. Blizzard conditions are expected with winds increasing to 50-80km/h from Quebec City east into Nova Scotia. They will gust in Montreal today as well, up to 60km/h producing blowing snow. We can expect a high near 1C (33F) today in Montreal. Skies will clear briefly tonight before clouds increase on Monday, the low will be -9C (16F). A series of cold fronts this week will bring us lots of flurries with windy and much colder weather by Wednesday. Temperatures will remain below freezing for highs and drop down to the minus teens for lows, well below the normal high/low of plus 3C and -6C.