Winter trying to return to Montreal - epic Great Lakes storm hammers NY & Ontario

A New York State Police vehicle blocks the entrance to a snow covered road in western New York, after an epic lake effect snowstorm dumped feet of snow on the region over the weekend. Montreal was left with only a few flakes around and little more. (New York State Police)

An Alberta Clipper type storm will skirt along the International border Wednesday into Thursday bringing gusty winds and the first significant snowfall of the season to Montreal.

While we are counting snowfall in flakes, parts of the Great Lakes were counting in metres! Over the weekend, arctic air flowing over the wide open and warm Great Lakes, produced epic amounts of snowfall to the south and east of the lakes. Off Lake Huron, close to 140cm of snow fell along provincial highway 11, stranding hundreds of motorists. The highway is slowly being reopened this morning after OPP and crews removed the abandoned vehicles. The weight of the snow also caused problems with power lines, trees and in some cases roofs of homes.

A dusting of snow on Ile Perrot Monday morning, as most of the lake effect remained well to our south and west over New York and Ontario.

Meanwhile south of the border it was much of the same from northwest Pennsylvania into western New York where 4 to 6 feet of lake effect snow piled up from Erie, towards Buffalo and along Interstate 81 in Watertown. There as well, thousands of cars and trucks were stuck for hours along the New York State Thruway.

More lake effect snow is on the way this week. While here in southern Québec, a few weak frontal boundaries, such as the one early Tuesday morning, have resulted in scattered snow showers. Depending where you are on the Island of Montreal, the ground may be white. The net result has been just a trace to perhaps a centimetre. Despite the light amounts, the nature of the snow falling on relatively warm surfaces, has created lots of black ice and the typical response from drivers. There have been many accidents across both eastern Ontario and southwestern Quebec since Sunday.

The bottom line, slow down, make sure you have winter tires on and that your windows are clear of snow and ice. Prepare for winter driving as we can expect accumulating snow Wednesday.

A quick moving low pressure system will move across the Great lakes and into southern Quebec on Wednesday. Mild, moist air flowing north along the track will result in a period of snow for the city starting late Wednesday. Montreal and most of southern Quebec can expect 5-10cm, with perhaps lose to 15cm locally. Accompanying the system will be gusty winds, up to 50km/h, producing some blowing snow, especially Thursday as temperatures drop behind the storm. Expect snow covered rods and slow commute times for Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.