A snowy & chilly end to 2012 in Montreal

HAPPY NEW YEAR! AP Photo of Sydney, Australia welcoming in 2013.

In stark contrast to the way the entire year has been, Montreal will see a chilly and snowy December 31st. The year 2012 will go down in the record books as one of the warmest and driest on record across southern Quebec  I have not crunched the numbers as of yet, but just the number of record highs alone in the city and when they happened was very impressive. We even flirted with the all time record high of 37C, but fell just short. November had only 1 lonely centimetre of snow and most of the summer and fall was very dry with water restrictions in place. I had no lawn most of the summer! So in other words the last two weeks of 2012 by no means reflect the past year.

We will end the year with a few flurries around today and possibly some heavier squalls into the wee hours of the morning and to start 2013 across southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Those squalls could drop a quick couple of centimetres of snow along with strong winds and low visibility, so don't be caught off guard if driving late. An arctic cold front will cross the region this evening, so after milder highs of -4C today temperatures will drop rapidly overnight to -12C and remain there on New Years Day. A gusty southwest wind will develop today and  then back to the northwest with cold wind chill readings. This sets the stage for a very cold night on Tuesday with lows close to -20C in many areas. Wednesday will not be much warmer with highs only around -15C.