Microburst confirmed in Rosemere

Storm damage from Rosemere north of Montreal. (GIRARD PASCAL/QMI AGENCY)

Low pressure over Lake Ontario most of this weekend was enough to keep lots of showers and thunderstorms across the region. Add to that the instability of lots of unexpected sunshine on Saturday and the stage was set for some powerful thunderstorms. The storms fired up in northern New York and extreme southwest Quebec late Saturday afternoon, rapidly moving from south to north into the Montreal region. It was mostly a heavy rain event for L'Ile Perrot with just over 25mm (1 inch) in under an hour. We have excellent drainage here on the Island so no problems were reported. The same was not true in other areas of the metro region. The storms produced heavy flooding particularly northeast of the city. Damage was reported also in Laval and north of Montreal in Rosemere and Terrbonne. Environment Canada has confirmed that a microburst occurred in Rosemere on Saturday around 5pm. The storm produced large hail and winds in excess of 120km/h toppling numerous large of trees and tearing down power lines. Sadly, 18 year old Vanier College student Matthew Salsa was killed on the course when he took refuge under a tree that crashed onto him. There were numerous reports of trees down and hail across the area north of Montreal from Lachute east to St Janvier and Repentigny. 4cm hail was reported with the storm as well as 50-70mm of rain.

We start the day rather humid again with temperatures at 20C. They have been at 20C for the last 5 hours. This has become the temperature of choice for the city lately with 14 consecutive hours of 20C (68F) readings observed from 5pm Saturday until early yesterday morning at Trudeau Airport. The day will be sunny with only a slight chance of a shower. Tuesday into Wednesday will be a little more active with more warm and humid weather and the chance for some strong afternoon thunderstorms.