Another round of wind and snow on the way for Montreal

A much calmer start to the day early Tuesday morning on Ile Perrot, after snow squalls and fierce winds created dangerous travel conditions across the St. Lawrence Valley Monday afternoon and evening. The squalls hit the Montreal region around midnight putting down a quick 5cm or so of wind-driven snow. The Tuesday morning commute was slick and slow.

The active weather pattern currently in place will continue on Wednesday as another low pressure area skirts just to the south of Montreal, accompanied by snow and gusty winds. After a sunny, but very cold and windy day Tuesday behind our most recent storm, clouds will increase late in the day.

Light snow is forecast to develop overnight and persist into Wednesday. Accumulations should be in the 5-10cm range across most of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, with 15cm locally. Much lighter but still gusty northeast winds of up to 30km/h will make for a rather raw day, as highs should be around -10C (14F) on Wednesday.

More snow is expected to end the week, with several more storm systems on the horizon.

Hydro-Quebec reported over 100,000 customers without power Monday night as temperatures plummeted behind an arctic front, down to -15C (5F) in Montreal Tuesday morning. (Hydro-Quebec) 

The windstorm that swept across the St. Lawrence Valley on Monday, produced gusts up to 100km/h across southern Quebec. A peak gust of 105km/h (65 mph) was recorded at Saint Hubert, with 96km/h (59.6 mph) at Trudeau Airport and 89km/h (55 mph) on Ile Perrot.

The strong winds were produced by an arctic cold front trailing from a powerful winter storm moving across northern Quebec. The central pressure of that storm was 965mb just east of James Bay, equivalent to that of a category two hurricane. Strong winds and snow squalls occurred over a large portion of the province as a result.

The strong winds were responsible for significant power outages, with over 108,000 Hydro-Quebec customers in the dark at the height of the storm. That number is down to under 6500 Tuesday afternoon. Across eastern Ontario, an additional 20,000 residents were without power. 

In Sainte-Barbe southwest of Montreal,  seven hydro poles were snapped in half. The same fate occurred near Iroquois in eastern Ontario. Several roads were closed as blowing and drifting snow made travel treacherous, with near-blizzard conditions reported off island Monday afternoon. There were multiple crashes including one that closed Highway 40 near Pointe-Fortune on the Ontario border. North to south rural routes were impacted the most, with both the SQ and OPP closing several highways into the evening hours.

The front moved through Montreal around midnight, dumping a quick 2 to 5cm of wind-driven snow, resulting in a slick and slow Tuesday morning commute.