In like a lamb or lion

UPDATE: A major storm over the eastern seaboard will move from Hatteras, NC into the Maratimes by Monday night. Heavy snow and strong winds will affect the coast from the Carolina's northward into Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Heavy snow will fall as far west as the Champlain Valley of New York. In Ontario look for gusty winds and bitter cold, while in Montreal the cold will be accompanied by snow and blowing snow with 5cm in Montreal and up to 10cm along the US border.

"If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb."

Some weather sayings are from fact and others are handed down from years of stories and beliefs. This particular saying appears to be one of the latter, there is not much fact associated with the proverb. Yes, very often it is true, but that can be said about the entire month - variable. March is very much a transition month. We are moving our clocks ahead, the sun is getting warmer, and the days are getting much longer. However March is also the month of our biggest snowstorms, record breakers. This included the 43cm of snow that fell on Montreal in March 1971. The blizzard of 71 stands out among other storms for me because of its ferocity. It snowed heavily and the wind blew at 100km/h or more producing zero visibility for nearly 24 hours at Montreal. The barometric pressure was so low it resembled a category 2 hurricane. It was the event that started my interest in weather at a very young age. I was only 5 but remember the day very well as I sat in my window at 7241 LaSalle Blvd in Verdun watching the day unfold. The wind, the heavy snow and the huge drifts it was amazing. The photo to the left is of the 401 closed near Cornwall and littered with trucks during that storm. Below is a story on that day published last year in the Montreal Gazette.

Back in March of '71 ... Snowdrifts two storeys high and 43.2 cm in 24 hours left 17 people dead
ANNE SUTHERLAND
The Gazette

Thursday, March 06, 2008

The 316 centimetres of snow that have fallen on Montreal so far this season may seem unbeatable, but we had much worse 37 years ago. That was our snowiest season on record, with a total of 383 centimetres, a quarter of that falling in March. On Thursday, March 4, 1971, as Montrealers were distracted by the 43.2 centimetres of snow that fell in 24 hours, our famously eligible prime minister managed to fly off and get married in secret. Pierre Elliott Trudeau married Margaret Sinclair on March 4 in Vancouver, taking almost everyone but the 12 people in attendance by surprise. Back here, the massive snowfall - dubbed Montreal's Storm of the Century before being eclipsed by the 1998 Ice Storm - left snowdrifts two storeys high. Seventeen people died in the Montreal area, killed by heart attacks, asphyxiation and traffic accidents. Many of the deaths occurred in cars that were stuck in the massive snow dump. Eighty per cent of the highways on and off the island of Montreal were closed for at least a day.

Police commandeered snowmobiles from private citizens to get around. Banks were closed the Friday after the storm and, unusually, opened for three hours on Saturday to accommodate clients. Many businesses sent their employees home early on March 4 and didn't open the next day because of the difficulty in getting around. Getting home the night of the storm was a problem because commuter trains could not get through the deep drifts. Airline passengers were stranded at what was then Dorval International Airport. City buses were operating only on major arteries.

Downtown hotels, bars and restaurants were crowded with stranded workers and merrymakers. There was no home delivery of The Gazette on March 5 because of the road conditions. We apologized. Montrealers had little time to put down their shovels. We got another 17 centimetres of snow on March 7, 1971.

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2008