Driest November on record for Montreal

Snow totals from the last 24 hours from upstate New York and Vermont show how the snow avoided the border region southwest of Montreal and the St. Lawrence Valley east of Cornwall. (double click for a better view) (Burlington NWS Office)

Just is case you have not figured it out, it has been very dry. As a matter of fact Montreal and the entire region has been well below normal for this time of year with the city about to post its driest November since weather record keeping began  I looked over the last 141 years of data for November, the first portion from 1871 to 1941 at McGill University downtown with the balance at Trudeau Airport in Dorval. What I found was that our paltry 13.8mm of precipitation for this past month will shatter any previous records. The previous winner was November 1991 with 31.5mm. The lack of precipitation it just a continuation of the year we have had, remember the water restrictions? Other notable November's over the years included 305.8mm in 1927 and November 2002 when the city had a record 62.8cm of snow. Compare that to this November where we have only had 2cm of snow, that falling in the last 48 hours.

Arctic front a bust
Speaking of snow, the front yesterday was a bust for most of our region. There was very little moisture out ahead of the arctic front and only light snow developed in Montreal and tapered off quickly with no squalls to speak of. There was some heavier snow around with over 5cm in portions of Ontario into the St. Lawrence Valley around Prescott, with over 10cm in the mountains of Vermont. The light snow has been replaced by bitter cold this morning with temperatures as cold as -14C here in Montreal and a frigid -20C (-2F) in Sherbrooke as of 7am. Wind chill values are in the -18 to -25C range, so it is very cold for this time of year. The good news is it will be short lived. Look for increasing clouds today and cold highs near -8C. Temperatures will continue to warm tonight and into the weekend with highs Saturday near 0C and Sunday all the way up to 6C. Some very light freezing drizzle is possible on Saturday with showers by Sunday. Cooler weather will return by the middle of next week, but there is still no signs of any major precipitation events into the first week of December.