It could be the coldest February in Montreal since '78

Brackley Beach, PEI buried under record snows.

If you thought it was cold in Montreal, you were right. A little research on my part is showing that we have not been this cold, this long in February, since 1978, when I was 12! I looked back over the data to see the last time Montreal remained below 0C (32F) for the entire month of February. I had to go back to 1978 when the overall average for the month was only -12.1C (10.2F). Through February 17, 2015, we are sitting at -15.9C (4F). For reference the normal average for February is -7.7C (18F). If we last the next 10 days below the 0C mark we will establish the dubious distinction of having stayed below freezing for an entire month. As a matter of fact the last time Montreal was above freezing was January 19. If you look at the average high and lows for the first 17 days of this month, you see just how cold it is. The current data from Trudeau (and my house backs this up) shows an average high of -11.7C (11F) and low of -20.0C (-4F), the normal is -3C (27F) and -12C (10F) respectively. We are literally freezing and it is expected to stay that way into the first week of March. Other cold years in Montreal included 1979, 1993 and 1994, but they had a least one day above freezing in February.

We have not had lots of snow this month, but what has fallen has stayed and is piled high everywhere. It is no coincidence that Boston is having a winter that is rivaling that of 1978. The two winters have strong similarities, and we are not done yet.

The next storm poised to bring snow to New England, Quebec, Ontario and Atlantic Canada this weekend.

 More snow is on the way for Montreal with a brief warm up to -8C or so over the next day or two. Expect light snow to develop this evening in Montreal and persist all day Thursday. Up to 5cm can be expected in Montreal with perhaps as much as 10-15cm for the Townships, along the US border. Friday will clear out slowly but it will turn wind and cold again, down to -20C Friday night. Another storm system is expected to arrive for the weekend with perhaps 5-10cm of snow for Montreal and points south, less north and west. I am watching this system closely to see if we can expect more from it or not. The computer models have been all over the place with this potential storm, stay tuned!