Has spring sprung in Montreal?

A surge in warmth this week will give southern Ontario and Quebec high temperatures from 10 to 15C (50 to 60F) by Wednesday.

Despite the heavy wet snow and chilly temperatures this morning in Montreal, it appears we may be turning the corner on this winter. The snow should end shortly with around 5cm or so for the city. It was not much of a winter, with only one really big snowstorm on December 28th, followed by a handful of smaller systems. The numbers back this up, with only 128cm (53 inches) of snow at Trudeau Airport from December 1 to February 29th. The normal for that time frame in Montreal should be 141cm. Much more snow fell north of the city, with very little south of the city into northern New York and Vermont. All winter long, the storm track either split our region, leaving us on the outside of the precipitation, or brought warm air with snow or freezing rain changing to rain.

Despite the surprise heavy wet snow Monday morning in Montreal, it looks like much warmer weather will arrive very soon.

As far as temperatures go, this is where we really see just how warm this winter turned out. The average daily temperature for December through February in Montreal was -3.4C (25.8F), while it should have been closer to -8.4C (16.8F). Those numbers represent a tremendous seasonal difference. You may recall a record 17C (63F) on Christmas Eve, as well as several record highs in January. That being said, I still have lots of ice and snow in my yard, which tends to keep temperatures down, so any real surge in warmth will have to eat away at that before we see true spring weather.

This week will feature typical March weather for southern Quebec, as we start the week with snow, warm up to above 10C (50F) on Wednesday, and then possibly have more snow Thursday night. In general, as we look ahead throughout the month of March, I see milder-than-normal weather prevailing, with lots of above-freezing temperatures expected. A slight dip in the mercury around the 24th may allow for one last sneaky snowstorm. Time will tell, but it really looks like spring is on the horizon.