Snow for Montreal and eastern Ontario

Two arctic cold fronts are set to bring most of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario our first measurable snow this evening and again on Thursday afternoon. In the meantime clouds and chilly weather will prevail to start the day today with temperatures at -4C to start and rising to around 0C. The first front will cross Montreal this evening with snow showers and a few heavier squalls. Amounts of snow will be light, but up to 2cm is possible. Skies will clear briefly by morning with temperatures chilly once again dropping to -10C.

A more potent arctic boundary is forecast to cross the St. Lawrence Valley late in the day Thursday with heavier flurries and perhaps a snow squall or two. Amounts with this front could be up to 5cm locally with strong northwest winds developing between 30- 50km/h and dropping temperatures. Be advised of this if you are out on the road either afternoon as both drivers and road crews have yet to adjust to winter driving routines. We already witnessed on Monday morning, with that dusting of snow in Vermont, just how quickly travel can turn deadly at this time of year. As I say every time it snows slow down. Once the front clears the region the coldest air of the season so far will settle south into Montreal with highs struggling to reach -5C on Friday and lows as cold as -13C in the city and perhaps our first -18C (0F) well off island to the north and in the Townships.

Much warmer weather is expected on the weekend as a southwest flow develops ahead of low pressure moving north and west of the region. Temperatures could be as high as 10C (50F) by early next week. I hope we are not in for another difficult roller coaster winter, but it is certainly going to start that way.