Near record warmth expected to end week in Quebec

Record warmth is forecast into eastern Canada this weekend. (AccuWeather)

Our very mild December weather is expected to continue into this weekend for Montreal. What is most unusual about this current warm spell is that we are even staying above freezing at night. In the first 9 days of December, Montreal has only been below freezing at night on four of those days. Only December 1st had a low even close to normal at -7C (19F); the normal should be -9C (16F). Daytime highs have been mild, but plenty of low cloud cover have kept the temperatures from breaking any records. That may change Thursday through Sunday, as we can expect highs as warm as 9C (48F). Most of the eastern third of North America will see high temperatures 10 to 20 degrees above normal. Instead of worrying about snow and ice, portions of the central and southern US will be watching out for flooding and severe thunderstorms this weekend.

Partly sunny skies will prevail in Montreal today, but the trend has been for more clouds than sun this week. The high temperature will be 5C (41F) with a low of 3C (38F). Low pressure will then develop over the western US and head towards the central Great Lakes on Friday. If the track sounds familiar, that is because every storm this fall has done the same thing. This system will produce warm, gusty southwest winds and a few showers for southern Quebec, along with very mild temperatures into this weekend. By Sunday, deeper moisture arrives from the Gulf of Mexico, with another round of rain forecast. At this time, colder air will try to arrive by around the 20th of the month. It may be just cold enough for a little snow before Christmas, but that is still just a sliver of hope.

Last year the first snowstorm of 2014/2015 was just starting in Montreal. The 48 hour storm would dump over 30cm on the city. However just a week later mild weather would melt all the snow before Christmas giving Montreal a green holiday.