The Northern Lights were just spectacular in Montreal

The Aurora Borealis as seen from by back deck on Île-Perrot late Friday evening. The Solar Storm that slammed into the Earth's atmosphere on Friday, May 10 produced a spectacular display of the Northern Lights across Canada, Europe and deep into the southern US. (Valley Weather Photo)

As predicted the solar storm that reached the Earth's atmosphere on Friday evening was simply spectacular. The energy from the coronal mass ejection that started Wednesday, interacted with our atmosphere, generating vibrant and vivid northern lights around the world and particularly here across North America. The G5 solar storm did not disappoint, providing many with a celestial show they will never forget. Photos shared on social media from across Canada and as far south as the Gulf of Mexico were breathtaking.

Here in Canada, we were seeing the Aurora directly overhead across the entire sky as opposed to just the horizon, in hues of green, and purple. If you were fortunate enough to get away from the city lights, the skies came alive, dancing in vivid colours.

Mother Nature was still putting on a show on Île-Perrot during the pre-dawn hours Saturday morning. 

Even on Île-Perrot and across the Island of Montreal, the colours were amazing, although a touch faint due to the abundance of light pollution. I was able to snap several photos with my iPhone from my back deck. It was quite the event, thankfully only a few clouds dotted the sky in Montreal. When I walked my pup very early Saturday morning, Mother Nature was still putting on the show, hours after the peak had supposedly passed.

This particular solar storm reached unusually far south, treating many to the Aurora Borealis for the first time in their lives. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center rated the storm Friday evening as a G5, the impact scale is from 1, lowest to 5 strongest. This was the first G5 in over 20 years. The agency had issued a Solar Storm Watch as early as last Wednesday. 

According to NOAA, we are in a period of elevated solar activity, and more storms are possible. As the energy from this solar storm diminishes early this week, conditions will  become less favourable for viewing the northern lights, and will become confined to more to traditional locations across the far north and high latitudes.

Geomagnetic storm expected to produce vibrant display of northern lights

A geomagnetic storm arriving Friday evening is expected to produce vibrant northern lights, which will be visible across most of Canada and as far south as Alabama and California.

A powerful geomagnetic storm is set to strike Earth's atmosphere on Friday evening, potentially disrupting power grids and radio communications as well as producing vibrant northern lights (Aurora Borealis) across most of Canada and as far south as Alabama and California.

According to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center, several solar flares and coronal mass ejections have been occurring over the last 72 hours. That energy is set to strike the Earth as one large storm Friday evening into Saturday morning. Geomagnetic Storms are measured on a scale of G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme). The current storm is expected to be at G4 level, prompting a geomagnetic storm watch, the first to be issued in 20 years.

An image of the sun showing the collection of solar flares and mass ejections sending energy hurling through space towards the Earth's surface. (SWPC)

The current timing has the energy arriving between 11PM Friday evening and 2AM Saturday morning here in southern Quebec. The charged particles (electrons) generated by the sun, mix with oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in the Earth's atmosphere, the reaction often producing spectacular bursts of colour known as the northern lights.

The incoming storm has been described as rare by NOAA, with comparisons to a January 2005 storm and the Halloween storm of 2003 that damaged several power grids in Sweden and South Africa.

Geomagnetic storms have been known to cause disruptions to power grids, radio communications and GPS systems. A large solar storm on March 13, 1989 knocked out power to the entire province of Quebec for several hours.

Full information on solar storms can be found on the Space Weather Prediction Center website.

Unsettled spring weather continues in Montreal

Menacing clouds have been a part of just about everyday this spring, as Montreal has received highly variable weather. Thanks to a fast moving zonal flow across the country, no weather system has hung around for too long. This pattern is expected to persist into next week, with most days having a least a chance for shower or two and perhaps even a rumble of thunder.

Warm weather seems to be struggling to take hold this spring in Montreal. While it has not been cold, it certainly has not been warm either. We seem stuck in a very similar zonal pattern with cool rainy days occurring just about every other day.

On Wednesday, the high of 13.8C (56F) was reached shortly after midnight, with the mercury settling in around a chilly 10C (50F(, along with gusty northeast winds and rain. This, after Monday and Tuesday's highs in the low 20s. This patter looks to persist for the rest of May. The very warm, muggy air remains across the southern and central US.

We will end the week with partly sunny skies that will persist into the Mother's Day weekend. There will be an ever present, though slight risk of showers each day into next week. Temperatures will try to reach the normal high of 18C (65F), with lows of 7 to 10C (45-50F) expected.

The good news is that our fire season here in Quebec is off to a much more manageable pace than last season. There are currently no active fires burning in the province, with 70 to date reported by SOPFEU. The 10-year average is 89. Rain and snowfall in April and May has been above normal for many parts of Quebec, including here in the Montreal region. In April, 142mm fell at Trudeau Airport, that is nearly double the normal.

So far in May, 27mm has been reported, with more shower activity likely next week. While it may be a nuisance for those looking for sunny, dry weather, the rain at this time of the year is most welcome.

Another round of pre-dawn thunderstorms for Montreal

Thunderstorms moving away from Montreal towards the northeast early Tuesday morning. Despite the cooler temperatures at the surface, warm unstable air moving in from the south has generated numerous storms this week in the St. Lawrence Valley. (Valley Weather Photo)

I was dodging lightning strikes for the third time this week in Montreal while walking my pup during the pre-dawn hours Thursday morning. Another round of storms swept across the region, accompanied by frequent lighting and brief, but heavy rainfall. 

The scenario has been much the same all week here in the St. Lawrence Valley, a warm front lifting into the region, while cool northeast winds supply colder temperatures at the surface. The instability has resulted in the storms firing up, as they did Sunday and Tuesday mornings. Thunderstorms are not that uncommon in late April, but the timing of the storms is a little unusual.

While very warm air has surged into parts of New York State and southwestern Ontario, temperatures have remained quite cool here in Montreal.

Radar image of southern Quebec showing clusters of storms sweeping across the Montréal region during the pre-dawn hours Thursday morning. Nocturnal storms are not all that common in Montreal in the spring, yet this is the third time this week.

The heavy rainfall the has fallen this week, added to an already impressive total for April. The month ended with 142mm of rainfall at Trudeau Airport, well-above the normal value of  82mm. Add to that 26cm of snow, which is double the normal, and it was definitely a wet month.

As we move forward this week, skies should clear out for Friday, with milder high temperatures close to 20C (68F). The weekend looks a little unsettled again, as warmer air will try to take a run at the region. Expect some shower activity, with perhaps a rumble or two of thunder. Next week, much the same, warmer, more humid and more thunderstorms.

Perhaps we are getting an early preview of what the summer of 2024 might look like. Time will tell.

Mother Nature puts on an early morning light show across southern Quebec

A spectacular lightning storm woke up many across the Montreal region early Sunday morning, with thousands of strikes occurring between 4-5AM. The photo above was taken at 4AM on Ile Perrot, with nearly constant thunder and lightning for over an hour. Heavy rain accompanied the storms, with 21mm falling at my home. (Valley Weather Photo)

A warm front lifting across southwestern Quebec early Sunday morning was the trigger for a cluster of thunderstorms that produced spectacular lightning. Nocturnal thunderstorms tend to be weaker than there afternoon cousins, but these has a little additional energy and instability. While the storms remained below severe criteria, they did produce thousands of dangerous lightning strikes. Thankfully most of the lightning was cloud to cloud, and only a few power outages were reported.

 The sky was constantly glowing, with nearly continuous flashes of blue and orange between 4 and 5AM in Montreal. Along with the lightning was persistent rolling thunder, making it an early morning for many. Accompanying the light show was just over 21mm of rain here in Ile Perrot. The thunderstorms rapidly moved off to the southeast while dissipating.

I was up early with my beloved 15 year old terrier who no longer has a working internal clock. The short early morning walk was lit up as if it was daytime. We retreated indoors quickly. It was some of the most intense lightning I have seen since my days in southern Saskatchewan

The remainder of the day was mild and muggy, with additional showers and isolated thunder, mostly south of the city along the New York border and across eastern Ontario.

We have a mixed weather week ahead, starting off cool, but warming up by Thursday into the low 20s. Wet weather is expected Monday night as another warm front lifts north into the region. Showers and more thunderstorms are possible.

Spectacular photo of a powerful tornado near Waverly, Nebraska on Friday, April 26. The tornado was one of over one hundred that occurred during the weekend across the southern and central plains into the Mississippi Valley. (Photo: Nick Gregath)

US TORNADO OUTBREAK

A significant and destructive tornado outbreak occurred on both Friday and Saturday across portions of the southern plains and Mississippi Valley. Over 100 tornadoes were reported by the National Weather Service. Powerful long-lasting tornadoes swept across Iowa and Nebraska on Friday, including a 2-3 mile wide wedge tornado near Lincoln, Nebraska. Damage was complete in many small communities, including Elkhorn, Nebraska, with homes leveled to their foundations, and vehicles tossed around. Miraculously there were no fatalities reported from Friday's storms, with the National Weather Service providing timely warnings.

Another round of powerful storms targeted Oklahoma Saturday night, producing a strong tornado in the community of Sulfur. The damage to the downtown core of that community southeast of Oklahoma City was nearly complete. Sadly the Oklahoma storms did produce at least 4 fatalities, with first responders still sifting through mounds of debris as I write this post. 

The National Weather Service will investigate the damage from the weekend storms to determine the strength, but it is clear to many long time forecasters and storm chasers that some of these tornadoes were high end EF-4 or even perhaps an an EF-5, capable of winds in excess of  200mph (320 KM/H).

Brief cold snap followed by increasing warmth for Montreal

Graupel fell in Montréal late last Sunday evening as a strong cold front crossed the region. Graupel resembles both hail and snow, but is in a category of it's own. It is often called small hail, typically forming on the edges of the summer season in Montreal during October and April. It is very soft, non-destructive compared to hailstones and usually melts away very quickly.

Temperatures have been on a roller coaster ride this week, with a wide variety of associated weather. Last Sunday evening, we had a strong cold front cross the region, accompanied by thunder, lightning and even some graupel was observed. 

Graupel is often mistaken for hail and indeed has the nickname soft hail. But it often occurs on the edges of the warmer weather here in Montreal, during April and October, when a cold pool of air develops in the upper atmosphere. Graupel is basically a snowflake that has been coated with a supercooled water droplet. This type of frozen precipitation is typically small, less than 5mm in diameter, very soft and non-destructive compared to hail and typically melts very quickly.

The Sunday cold front resulted in a chilly, windy Monday in Montreal, followed by rapidly warming temperatures on Tuesday. The high Tuesday at Trudeau Airport was 19.5C (67F), after an early morning low that was close to the freezing point in many locations along with scattered frost.

The temperatures dropped just as quickly Wednesday morning after another strong cold front crossed the St. Lawrence Valley, falling from 10C (50F) at 9AM to 1C (34F) at 11AM. Along with the colder air came 15mm of rain and even a few snowflakes as the precipitation tapered off.

Looking ahead we have a couple of cold nights on tap to end the week, with sub-zero lows across the entire region, along with frost. Temperatures are expected to warm up considerably this weekend and into next week, with highs exceeding 21C (70F) by Monday. Conditions will be rather unsettled, with the risk of showers over the weekend and even a few thunderstorms next week.

Spring off to a typical slow start in Montreal

Some trees have responded to the 91mm of rain that have fallen so far in Montreal this April, while others have been slowed by the frequent cloud cover, chilly days and nights. This is typical April weather in Montreal. 

April can be a tricky month across North America, with mother nature having tremendous mood swings. There is no other month more volatile than April. It is a month that features snow and ice storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, strong winds, wild temperature swings, and the start of wildfire season, often occurring in the same week. 

This is quite simply because there is no other month with such a wide range in temperatures across the continent. While winter holds on across the arctic, mid summer temperatures have entered the picture along the Gulf Coast. When these two air masses collide, action results. We witnessed that last week, with a high of 22C (72F) last Friday in Montreal, followed by plunging temperatures into the single digits on Saturday. 

This week, heavy snow fell in parts of the southern prairies, while severe thunderstorms and tornadoes were occurring across the lower Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. 

More of the same April action can be expected in the coming days. Montreal will be plagued by frequent frontal boundaries pinwheeling across the St. Lawrence Valley. The first produced about 7mm of rain on Thursday, along with chilly temperatures. We will warm up on Friday into the middle teens, before another front late in the day produces more showers along with gusty winds and dropping temperatures. 

The weekend will be cool, windy and unsettled. This trend will persist into next week. A very cool airmass arrives mid-week in southern Quebec, with highs struggling to reach 5C (41F), and overnight lows likely at or below freezing with some frost by Wednesday. 

While spring seems to be sputtering here in Montréal, it is nothing abnormal, the good news is that no snow is in our future, and May is just around the corner!