The next storm

The clean up continues before the next storm. (CBC News)

Well our one day break was very nice as the March sun pushed the mercury from our low of -19C to a high of -3C in Montreal on Tuesday. Some of the 25cm that fell on the city actually started to melt. Our attention now turns to the next big storm that has developed over Texas and is now moving into the Ohio Valley and southern Great Lakes. This storm will pass very close to Montreal on Thursday and sweep off to the northeast. A large area of precipitation has developed north of the storm track and will overspread Ontario today and move into Quebec tonight. A large swath of moderate wet snow will fall from Peterborough east into the Ottawa Valley, Kemptville, Cornwall and eastern Ontario. Heavy Snowfall Warnings have been posted in these regions with 15-20cm forecast. The snow will begin this afternoon and continue overnight.

In southern Quebec the snow will arrive late this evening and accumulate 10-15cm in metro Montreal with 15-25cm north and west of the city. Heavy Snow Warnings are in effect for the Laurentians, St. Jerome and Lachute. Temperatures today and tonight will be near -2C. On Thursday warmer air will stream into the St. Lawrence Valley with snow changing to rain by noon. There is the potential for quite an appreciable amount of rainfall into Friday morning especially south of the city. All area rivers and lakes will have to be monitored for sharp rises and the potential for flooding especially in the Townships, northern New York and Vermont.

Winds with this storm will become quite strong out of the northeast and then southeast from 30-50km/h. There could be some blowing snow issues, especially along the 401 and 20 as well as the 10/15 south of Montreal overnight. The system will clear the region by late Friday. I will update this storm again later today and post any additional warnings that may be issued.