New month - same weather for southern Quebec

Freezing rain, rain and fog made for slick travel across the region from Kingston to Quebec City on Tuesday and Wednesday. Some wet snow is possible on Thursday.

 The month has changed but the weather remains the same across southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. A strong El Nino in the Pacific Ocean off South America is creating havoc with the weather patterns over North America. November was an extremely mild month in Montreal, the average temperature at Trudeau Airport was 4.4C, the normal is 1.6C. We had only two daytime highs below the freezing point, and that was in the last week. Snowfall was a paltry 2.2cm, the lowest since 2006. The average overnight low was just below freezing at -0.1C. The average daytime high, a very warm 8.7C.

As December begins, mild air this week has produced freezing rain and rain rather than snow. Some cooler air will try to work into southern Quebec behind the current storm, perhaps with a little wet snow Thursday. A pronounced west to east jet stream will result in the cold air remaining trapped over northern Canada. Just a few pockets of arctic air will slide southeast over the month, impacting mainly portions of eastern Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The trend for Montreal at this time looks very mild with high temperatures at or above freezing through Christmas. There may be a couple of opportunities for snow, but the likelihood of it staying on the ground looks slim at this time.