Warm weather returns to Montreal - hurricane Florence expected to strengthen

Astronaut Ricky Arnold, from aboard the International Space Station, shared this image of Hurricane Florence on Sept. 10, taken as the orbiting laboratory flew over the massive storm. Tweeting from @astro_ricky, he said "Hurricane #Florence this morning as seen from @Space_Station. A few moments later, Isaac and the outer bands of Helene were also visible." (NASA Image)

Strong high pressure will build back into Montreal this week, after the passage of post topical storm Gordon Monday night. I measured just under 25mm of rain on L'Ile Perrot. The rain came to an end on Tuesday, but skies have been slow to clear. Look for sunshine to return by Wednesday afternoon, along with much warmer temperatures. By the end of the week, we may be looking at record warmth returning, with forecast highs from 27C to 29C (80 to 85F). The normal high for mid-September in Montreal is 20C (68F).

Hurricane Florence
The same high pressure that will provide southern Quebec and Ontario with ideal late summer weather, is also responsible for steering hurricane Florence into the Carolinas. At 2pm Tuesday afternoon, Florence was located 845 miles (1360km) southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. The storm was moving northwest at 17mph (28km/h), and was showing signs of strengthening, with category 4 winds of 130mph (215km/h). A hurricane watch is in effect for the North and South Carolina coast.

I am very familiar with the Outer Banks of North Carolina, having vacationed there since 1991. The 200 mile long chain of barrier islands is beyond beautiful, but also very fragile. The region is no stranger to hurricanes and powerful ocean storms, but Florence has many concerned. Hatteras Island, my location of choice, was the first to be evacuated, starting at 12pm on Monday. Evacuations have since been expanded to cover the region from coastal Maryland south into South Carolina. Millions of residents and tourists are heading inland today.

Florence is taking an unusual path westward towards the coastline, being blocked by the aforementioned strong high pressure centered north of Bermuda. Typically storms at this latitude move northeast out to sea. Florence is expected to approach the coast in the watch area by late Thursday, and then meander around coastal North Carolina through the upcoming weekend. A storm of this magnitude is capable of catastrophic damage. A storm surge of ocean water from 6 to 12 feet is possible as the center of Florence makes landfall. As much as 10 to 20 inches (250-500mm) of rain is forecast from the Carolinas into Virginia as the storm stalls inland. Significant coastal flooding and inland fresh water and river flooding is likely.