January blues

Canada's warm North: Hudson Bay with no ice cover over the northern & eastern portion, very rare for January.

I always find the weeks after the Christmas break so slow and dare I say boring. It is dark and cold and our next holiday is not until Easter. I survive by planning my next vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The weather has settled down completely in Montreal and as long as the Greenland block continues, our winter weather will remain uneventful. Another Alberta clipper will slide south of the lower lakes on Friday and emerge into the Atlantic by early Saturday. It will develop into a pretty potent storm, however most of the energy and precipitation will remain to our east. We can expect light snow or flurries from late tonight right into Saturday. Expect a good 5-10cm in most areas by late Saturday with the potential for 15cm or more in a narrow band from central Ontario across western New York state towards New York City. Keep this in mind if you are traveling the 401 or south on I-87 this weekend. Gusty winds may produce a little blowing snow as well.

Speaking of the Greenland block, it has been responsible for pushing the arctic air well south into the central and southern US. Cold air next week will do the same, plunging well south of Quebec and Ontario into the middle Atlantic. A snowstorm is possible along the eastern seaboard next week. Meanwhile just how warm is it across northern Quebec and the NWT? This morning Montreal is at -11C while Iqualit in the Arctic is at 1C with freezing drizzle. It should be -30C at this time of year. The normal high is only -22C. This month the high temperature in Iqualit has been above freezing on 5 of the 6 days. For the temperature to be at plus 1C (33F) at 8am on January 6 is unheard of.