Windy wet start to the work week for Montreal and Ottawa

Hydro One photo showing downed power lines in southern Ontario. Last weeks ice storm knocked power out to over 100,000 Ontario homes. Crews have been working hard throughout the Easter long weekend.

After a delightful Easter Sunday with sunny and warm weather, we start the last week of March with clouds and rain. A potent low pressure area near Detroit this morning, will rapidly move northeast down the St. Lawrence valley today. Clouds are on the increase with the rain following close behind. The rain will be heavy at times today, with the chance of some thunderstorms as well. There were numerous reports of thunderstorms in Ontario overnight. Montreal can expect 15-25mm of rainfall through midnight. The high temperature will be near 8C (47F).

On the backside of the storm, colder air will surge into the region overnight with rain changing to snow across eastern Ontario and southern Quebec. Most locations can expect a dusting to 2cm before the precipitation ends Tuesday morning. The temperature will fall to near -1C (30F) in Montreal overnight. Winds will become quite strong today, 30-50km/h, increasing to 50-70km/h tonight before diminishing Tuesday morning.

A spring arctic outbreak is forecast this week into the weekend.

After a break in the weather late Tuesday and Wednesday, another warm, wet and windy weather system will affect Quebec Thursday into early next weekend. This low pressure area will be followed by unseasonably cold weather next Sunday, that will last for a few days. At this time, temperatures are expected to be to be 10 to 15 degrees below normal along with a chance of some snow. The good news is that the cold snap is only expected to last 48 to 72 hours before temperatures moderate. The bad news is lake effect snow, along with hard freeze, can be expected from the Great Lakes into portions of eastern Canada and the US.