From record snow to record cold across Southern Quebec

The City of Montreal is conducting the earliest snow removal operation ever this week after a record breaking 21cm of snow fell on the region. Another shot of light snow is forecast Friday, followed by arctic air for the weekend. (ValleyWeather Photo)

A strong cold front will produce snow squalls across Southern Quebec and eastern Ontario Friday afternoon between 4 and 7pm.

A weak warm front is giving southern Quebec some very light snow late Thursday afternoon. Very little in the way of accumulation can be expected. The good news is that we can expect some warmer temperatures through Friday morning as we head out of the deep freeze for a few hours.

It has been a cold, snowy week, with a record setting 21cm of snow Monday and Tuesday, followed by two days of extremely cold weather for early November. On Tuesday we broke both records for coldest nighttime and daytime temperatures, the low was -10.9C (12F) (-9.4, 1971) with a high of only -4.6C (23.7F). We did the same Wednesday, with a low of -13.5C (8F) (-10.5C, 1986) and a brutally cold high of -7.1C (19F). Windchill reading were in the minus 20s, some of the coldest ever recorded so early in the season in Montreal.

The storm brought the monthly snow total so far to 29.6cm, well above the normal of 20cm, which is for the entire month.

More cold air is on the way. After the brief influx of mild air, a potent arctic boundary will slide across southern Quebec Friday afternoon. The front will be accompanied by scattered snow flurries and squalls. Visibilities may be reduced in sudden bursts of heavy snow during the afternoon hours. The front will bring even colder air to the region than that of earlier in the week. The high on Friday will be 2C (36F) reached during the midday hours. Temperatures will drop rapidly behind the front, down to -15C (5F) by Saturday morning in Montreal.

The weekend will be blustery and cold, but sunny with highs around -5C (23F). We may add two more record lows to the books, Saturday's record is -15C set in 1967 and Sunday's is -10.1C set in 1980. Milder air returns early next week, but temperatures will still remain below the normal high of 5C (41F) for mid November. There will be a chance of rain or snow showers by Tuesday.