October-like weather just in time for Thanksgiving

A starry chilly morning on Monday, October 7, the coldest so far this fall, with morning lows near 2.8C (37F) here on Ile Perrot along with scattered frost. Many locations across Canada witnessed the northern lights this past week, but they were not visible at my home due to light pollution. (Valley Weather Photo)

The weather will finally start behaving like October here in Montreal. After an extremely warm September and early October, cooler weather arrived this week, just in time for the Thanksgiving long weekend. Temperatures have tumbled into the single digits for overnight lows, and have been struggling to reach 10C (50F) this week, along with clouds, gusty winds at times and a few sprinkles. The culprit has been a stubborn upper low moving slowly across southern Quebec from the Great Lakes.

Personally, I find it very cold. I think the warm September is to blame. I only began this week to wear jackets and long-sleeved shirts, prior to that it was all shorts. In recent years we have all become accustomed to the later arrival of fall and eventually winter weather. This has pushed our averages back by almost a month, so when the cooler weather does finally arrive, it can be quite a shock to the system. Even the foliage has been very slow to respond this autumn in Montreal, with plenty of green leaves still around. That may change in the next week or so.

We have still not received any general frost in the Montreal region, although we came close on Monday morning, when the low was 3C (38F). The weather remains rather dry as compared to our summer, with only 6.4mm of rainfall for the month of October at Trudeau Airport to date.

We can expect another chilly, cloudy day Thursday, with a high around 10C (50F). Friday will be the best day of the week and possibly for the next week and beyond, with sunny skies and an unseasonably warm high of 18C (65F). The normal high should be around 13C (55F). Enjoy the weather as we have a pattern change starting with the arrival of a cold front late in the day.

Expect a partly cloudy, chilly weekend, with a few showers around and daytime highs of 10 to 13C (50 to 55F) and overnight lows around 6C (43F). Another stronger cold front Sunday evening will usher in the coldest air this fall, along with some light rain. Monday will be cloudy, breezy and cold, with a daytime high of only 6C (43F) and and overnight low of 3C (38F). The colder air will remain with us next week.