Strong thunderstorms possible for southern Quebec

Montreal remains abnormally dry, with most vegetation now showing some signs of heat stress and lack of water. Southern Ontario and parts of the Northeast US are in a moderate drought. (AccuWeather)

Our current stretch of warm and humid weather is about to come to an end. Twin cold fronts lie just to the northwest of Montreal this morning, with showers and thunderstorms expected to develop along them today. Some of the storms may be strong to locally severe, with heavy rain, gusty winds and small hail possible, especially from Montreal south and east into the Townships and New England. Thunderstorms are forecast to develop around noon in Montreal and last through sunset.

Montreal is very warm this morning, with a mild overnight low of 22C (72F). Limited sunshine today should keep the temperature down to 25C (77F). We managed a high of 28C (83F) Monday, despite the clouds and early showers. Montreal has already recorded five 30C-or-warmer days at Trudeau Airport. We did not record a 30C high in Montreal until July 7 during the summer of 2015. Today's cold front will usher in a slightly cooler air mass for Wednesday, with expected high temperatures in the low 20's accompanied by a shower or two. High pressure will clear skies along with a warming trend for Thursday and Canada Day. Look for wall-to-wall sunshine to start the holiday weekend, with highs near 27C (81F). At this time, a few showers are forecast on Saturday, but I am not overly confident with that forecast.

Conditions remain very dry across the region, with slight-to-moderate drought being reported from southern Ontario into Quebec and New England. According to the United States Drought Monitor, many Northeast and southern St. Lawrence Valley locations are reporting only 25 to 50 percent of normal rainfall.

EF2 Tornado
Environment Canada has confirmed the second tornado of the year for Quebec. It occurred on a very warm and humid June 20th in Lac Verne. The EF2 tornado, with an estimated 190km/h winds, destroyed a cottage and knocked down a strand of trees. Two people were seriously injured in the storm. Quebec records an average of 6 tornadoes a year. (The Enhance Fujita Scale rates tornadoes from EF0, the weakest, to EF5, the strongest).