Record warmth for Montreal

Hydro Quebec is currently restoring power to more than 200,000 customers, down from 300,000 last evening. The utility said most of the outages were caused by trees making contact with lines and a few others by lightning. (Hydro Quebec Photo)

The sweltering heat of Monday has been replaced by natural air conditioning this morning, as temperatures have settled back into the high teens in Quebec. Montreal at 7:00 am was 19C (66F), after a record high of 32.9C (91F) on Monday afternoon. Numerous other record-high temperatures were tied or broken from Ontario to Newfoundland. The cooler weather this morning is thanks to a cold front that moved across Ontario and Quebec last evening. The front generated widespread severe thunderstorms. The fast-moving line of storms produced hail, wind gusts to 90km/h, as well as some tornadic rotation. Tornado warnings were issued by Environment Canada around 7:00 pm for portions of eastern Ontario, including Ottawa. No tornadoes were observed.

The storms skipped my location here on L'Ile Perrot, moving just to the north. We had several hours of vivid lightning, but no rain. Strong winds produced by the storms cut power to nearly 300,000 Hydro Quebec customers, most of those in the Quebec City region. Power outages were also reported in Ontario, New York and Vermont. A number of trees and branches were down as well, several on cars and homes in both Ontario and Quebec. All this on the first official day of summer.

Record warmth provided the fuel for late afternoon and evening thunderstorms in Ontario and Quebec. (Valley Weather Photo)

The cooler and less humid air mass will be with us for a couple of days here in Montreal, before temperatures begin to climb again into the upcoming long weekend. Highs today through Thursday will be around 24C (76F), with pleasant lows near 15C (59F). There is a risk of some showers late today and again Wednesday. By the weekend, Montreal can expect an increase in humidity, along with highs nearing 30C (86F) once again.