Montreal spared from the worst of the weekend storm

While Montreal was spared the worst of the weekend ice storm, such was not the case across central and eastern Ontario. Above, Hydro One crews clear away debris in an effort to restore power near Barrie, Ontario on Sunday. Nearly a half million customers were without power in Ontario on Sunday. (Hydro One)

Strong low pressure moving along a nearly stationary boundary over the weekend, produced a wide area of wintry precipitation. Montreal and most of our region was spared the worst of the storm. Still the messy mix of freezing rain and snow resulted in numerous accidents, and a long list of power outages north and east of the city. Early Monday morning, Hydro-Quebec is reporting over 75,000 customers without power, the majority of those in the Laurentians and Lanaudière regions where more freezing rain fell.

Here in Montreal, anywhere from 3 to 10cm of snow fell early Saturday from southwest to northeast across the region. Officially, Trudeau Airport reported just over 3cm, while I measured 6cm on Ile Perrot. That was followed by an additional 21.1mm of rain, much of that freezing on power lines and trees. The good news for extreme southern Quebec was that most of the precipitation fell at a slow rate, with melting occurring in between. The lessened the ice accretion on trees and power lines, sparing Montreal from the worst of the storm. 

Such was not the case north of Montreal where the freezing rain continued, at times heavy, into Monday morning. In Ontario, heavy amounts of freezing rain, often accompanied by thunder and lightning, spread from Lake Huron inland across central portions of the province on Friday evening into Saturday. Many regions were hard hit with 25 to 50mm of ice, including Barrie, Peterborough, Goderich and the Muskokas to name a few. Significant damage has occurred to trees and the power grid. As of Monday morning, nearly 400,000 residents remain in the dark. Despite the heroic effort of the utility crews, the damage is severe, and the power may be out for days. Several central Ontario communities have declared a State of Emergency on Monday, closing schools and advising resident to stay off debris filled roads.

Thousands of trees have been damaged or destroyed across Ontario, many falling onto homes and cars. The focus of the ice storm was from northern Michigan, across central Ontario and into central New York State, just southwest of Montreal.

Temperatures will warm quickly on Monday across the entire region, helping to melt the ice, but with an added problem. Gusty southwest winds are forecast across the southern Ontario and Quebec Monday, between 40-60km/h, backing to the northwest tonight behind a strong cold from, 30-50km/h. This will cause additional damage to the weakened and ice loaded trees and power lines across the most hard-hit regions.

Here in Montreal, we can expect a very warm and windy Monday, with a high near 15C (59F). Some showers and perhaps a rumble of thunder are possible. Much colder weather returns tonight and Tuesday, with overnight lows dropping rapidly to -3C (27F). Tuesday will be partly unny, and colder with a high of 4C (39F). 

More stormy weather is on the way for Wednesday, more on that later.