Much colder Tuesday

CBC.ca photo of icy roads in Montreal for the Monday commute.

The low pressure and cold front that gave Montreal, southern Quebec and eastern Ontario its first taste of winter yesterday, is now well east of the area. In its wake Montreal is much colder this morning at -8C with -12C in Ottawa. We managed a high of plus 3C (39F) on Monday, but late in the afternoon and early evening after most of the precipitation had ended. It was quite a bit warmer to our immediate south with temperatures between plus 7 and 9C (45-50F) towards the US border. That wide range of temperatures over a small area made for some interesting travel. You could go from snow and freezing rain to plain rain in a matter of a few kilometres. Montreal recorded 16.2mm of rain and freezing rain with 5.8cm of snow. Here on L'Ile Perrot I had similar amounts with around 25mm or 1 inch of precipitation. We are left this morning with several centimetres of icy snow cover on the lawns, but the roads are dry. It will be a colder day with the mercury edging up to -4C. Clear and cold tonight dropping down to -10C. The balance of the week looks fair with seasonable temperatures. By the weekend we have another low pressure taking shape south of the Great Lakes that could bring us snow by Sunday or Monday. Beyond that a more active and colder period of weather is expected. So my thinking is that yesterday was just the test run as real winter begins to advance on southern Quebec.