Storm two winding down - storm three on the horizon for southern Quebec

A Transport Quebec web cam along Highway 40 in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue showing some of the gridlock motorists had to deal with as a result of lane closures made worse by the heavy snow Tuesday evening. Traffic was snarled all over the city. 

The timing of the arrival of our latest storm was very poor indeed, with snow beginning just prior to the evening commute in Montreal Tuesday afternoon. The snow fell fast and furious for several hours, leading to numerous accidents and clogged highways. Anyone heading anywhere in the city needed time and patience. At one point Highway 20 westbound was backed up from the Dorval Circle to Dorion.

Ile Perrot late Tuesday evening after nearly 15cm of snow fell in just a few hours. (Valley Weather)

The storm dumped 16cm of new snow on Montreal in just a few hours, before precipitation changed over to heavy rain, with less than an hour or so of sleet and freezing rain. After the snow, we managed to received close to 15mm of rain, creating plenty of standing water on area highways. Temperatures have warmed above freezing in the St. Lawrence Valley, but remain below north and east of the city where up to 30cm of snow has fallen. Precipitation will taper off to flurries or showers later today.

There were numerous school closings across the Laurentians. This storm had far reaching effects up and down the east coast. Montreal was spared the strongest winds, but that was not the case across other regions. In Sherbrooke, winds gusted to 93km/h (58mph), Watertown, New York reported a wind gust to 127km/h (79mph) on Tuesday afternoon, while in the wee hours this morning, Burlington, Vermont reached 111km/h (69mph). The peak gust in Montreal was only 53km/h (33mph). The combined result of wind and wet snow has cut power to over 41,000 Hydro-Quebec clients, most of those (30,000) are location in the Eastern Townships. In New York, 142,000 customers have no power, with 28,000 in Vermont.

The same storm stretched over thousands of kilometres from the southern plains across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northeast into southern Ontario and Quebec with a mix of heavy rain, snow, wind and thunderstorms. One thunderstorm produced a tornado in Panama City Beach, Florida (above), with significant damage reported. (Bay County Sheriff Photo)

Further south, severe thunderstorms produced tornadoes across the southeastern US. One tornado produced significant damage in Panama City, Florida early Tuesday morning.

Winds will increase Wednesday afternoon in Montreal, as the 975mb low moves northeast across Quebec. A cold front will arrive this afternoon, along with showers and flurries, with wind gusts to 60km/h. Temperatures will fall back below freezing tonight in Montreal,  down to -6C (23F), so any remaining water will freeze.

NEXT STORM

Thursday will be breezy and colder, -4C (26F), with a little light snow at times. Friday will be a calm day before the next system arrives on Saturday. This storm does not look as strong as it did earlier in the week, but many details still need to be fine tuned. Expect another shot of heavy snow and wind for southern Quebec and Ontario, with perhasp more mixed precipitation. Updates to follow.