Storm tapering off

Above & Below: Some typical scenes in Montreal today. ValleyWX pictures.

Snow is slowly tapering off in Montreal tonight after a rather stormy day. I measured around 20cm in my front driveway with drifts of a couple of feet around the backside of the house. Strong winds and heavy snow played havoc with road and air travel into the afternoon with more than 80 flights cancelled at Trudeau Airport and numerous highways in the region closed. Several major accidents were reported including one on Highway 20 on the South Shore near St. Julie. That accident involved 70 vehicles including 30 trucks and several buses. Three injuries were reported. There were scores of other accidents around the region closing Highway 15 on the south shore as well as the 640 on the north shore. The storm is now pulling off the New England coast and heading across the Maritimes. In its wake hundreds of thousands are without power in the US and it will likely take days to sort out the more than 10,000 cancelled flights.

The storm brought the third largest snowfall to Chicago with nearly 20 inches. Despite dire predictions only 13-17cm fell on Toronto as the storm wobbled to the north slightly and dry air worked into the city. The Montreal region had 15cm across the north shore and Laval with 20-25cm from the island of Montreal across the south shore to the US border. The entire 401 corridor from Kingston northeast to the Quebec border had between 20-30cm of snow. Travel remains poor tonight south and east of the city in snow and blowing snow.