Cold week ahead for Montreal

The relentless winter in eastern Canada continued Monday with a fierce blizzard bringing travel to a standstill in Newfoundland. (CBC News)

Happy St Patrick's Day, I wish I had better weather news. It looks like a period of below normal temperatures is upon us yet again lasting into next weekend. It is the same old story across North America, record warmth in portions of the west and southwestern US with biting cold and snowstorms in the east. This morning we have a potent cold front moving across southeastern Ontario and southern Quebec. Light snow is falling in Montreal as we have dropped to the freezing point. The snow is mixed with rain in other parts of the region. The precipitation will taper off by noon with about 5cm in most locations. Winds will increase out of the northwest 30-60km/h shortly and temperatures will drop all day to -3C (27F) by evening. Skies will clear out this evening with a cold overnight low of -12C (10F). Wednesday will be sunny but cold for middle March reaching only -4C (25F). The normal high should be 3C (38F). By the weekend the coldest air in North America will be located over Quebec and New England.

On Monday the biggest snowstorm of the year dumped nearly 40cm of snow on Newfoundland with winds in excess of 100km/h. The snow closed most roads and stranded numerous motorists. The same storm had hit the Maritimes hard on Sunday with blizzard conditions. Meanwhile another couple of inches of snow in Boston has pushed them over the 1995 record to 108.5" of snow, the snowiest winter on record. As all this was going on in the east, portions of the northern plains and Midwest had record high temperatures in the 70's and 80's. Even normally cold and snowy Winnipeg managed a high of 14C (56F) on Sunday with no snow on the ground to speak of.