Light Snow

The wild temperature swings across the country this fall are showing no signs of changing any time soon. We are mild for the time being this morning - around the freezing point in eastern Ontario and western Quebec. Radar is showing an area of light snow and rain along a cold front moving southeast towards the St. Lawrence Valley this morning with snow falling in Ottawa. I expect some snow to spread into Montreal today with 1-3cm possible, less in the city centre where it may mix with light rain. Temperatures will warm briefly above freezing to 1 or 2C before falling back behind the cold front by late afternoon. Skies should clear out tonight with a cold evening on tap for the region with lows on either side of -10C. It will be a mild weekend with partly cloudy skies on Saturday and increasing chances of precipitation on Sunday. Temperatures will be 2C on Saturday, warming to 6C on Sunday so no snow only rain. The next chance for snow or rain will come late Monday.

The Santa Ana winds in southern California and the US southwest kicked up again yesterday with record ferocity blowing across the desert and into the canyons and passes of the Golden State. Wind gusts were reported as high as 167 mph (over cat 5 hurricane) with widespread damage to homes and trees reported, and hundreds of thousands without power. Here are some rather notable wind gusts from the current event, which forecasters say was the strongest in a decade.

-- Henninger Flats, Calif. (2,800 ft., near Pasadena): 167 mph* -- Mammoth Mountain, Calif. (11,000 ft.): 150 mph* -- Steamboat Springs Ski Resort, Colo.: 123 mph -- Kane Springs, Nevada: 98 mph -- Neihart, MT: 77 mph -- Meeteetse, Wyom.: 75 mph -- Sandia Park, New Mexico: 72 mph (AccuWeather.com)