March 4, 1971 in Montreal (Radio Canada)
It is so hard for me to believe that it has been 40 years since Montreal was blasted by its biggest storm on record. The storm struck on March 3-5, 1971 with great ferocity in the region. It virtually shut down the valley from Cornwall to the mouth of the St. Lawrence with tropical storm force winds, hurricane like low barometric pressure and over 50 cm of snow. The drifts were over 6 feet high and shut down most major highways across the area stranding thousands. The now famous Blizzard of 71 lives in infamy with other great Montreal weather moments such as the Decarie flood of 1987 and the big one, the 1998 Ice Storm. I have blogged before about the 71 storm and its impact on me at the young age of 4. We had a tremendous spot on the St. Lawrence River to watch the weather events of the day unfold. It also provides me with a strong connection to my late father. He was one of the few who defied the odds and made it to work and back home that day. I sat waiting for him until 7pm that evening on the windowsill of our Lasalle Boulevard home in Verdun. It is the stuff of legends in our family, and many feel the start of my lifelong passion with the weather. You can read more about 1971 at this link Blizzard of 1971.
To this day any entry I do on 1971 brings lots of comments and oh so many page views. There seems to be plenty of interest still in the events of 40 years ago today.
I will update the weekend weather forecast later this morning.
1 comment:
I remember this vividly. I was just an 8 year old boy living in Pierrefonds Quebec on Thorndale ave when this happened. My father and a neighbour cleaned the street with snowblower's the next day and the weather was warm. When the street was clear there was a huge block party it was alot of fun.
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