White Christmas for Montreal?

Despite the 34cm that has fallen this December in Montreal, we were looking at another green Christmas. That changed Monday evening with a quick hitting 1-2cm of snow. This will be followed by another 5-10cm of fresh snow on Tuesday. So if snow is your thing for the holidays, you should be happy. Drive safe. (Valley Weather Photo)

If snow at the Holidays is your thing, then you will have an 11th hour reprieve. It certainly looked guaranteed for most of Canada in 2025, but then the "blowtorch" set up across the southwestern US and has been pumping very warm air northward. As a matter of fact, several parts of the US, right up to the Great Lakes can expect record-breaking warmth for Christmas Day.

That warm air will remain just to the South of Montreal and the St. Lawrence Valley, and that may lead to bigger problems for southern Ontario and Quebec by the weekend, in the form of significant freezing rain. More on that later in the week. For now, our attention turns to the Christmas Day travel forecast.

Environment Canada defines a white Christmas as 2cm or more on the ground at your location at 7am, December 25th. Montreal in 2023 had no snow on the ground, a more common occurrence of late. Last December, 10cm fell on Christmas Eve, just in time. This year we can expect the same. Another in a never-ending series of Alberta Clippers is set to swing across the Great Lakes and south of Montreal Tuesday.

Snow will begin midday today and end after midnight. A general 5-10cm is forecast for Montreal and the Ottawa Valley. Higher elevations may see 10 to 15cm. There is the chance of a little light freezing drizzle mixing in as well this afternoon. Temperatures will warm to around -3C (27F) for Tuesday, cooling back down to -6C (21F) tonight.

Roads will become snow covered and travel a little slow today. As we witnessed during the Monday evening commute in Montreal, it does not take much snow to make travel difficult. Light snow accumulated a quick 1.4cm at Trudeau Airport Monday afternoon. The result was numerous accidents in the Montreal region, even with the lighter-than-normal holiday volume.

The message is the same, adjust your speed, avoid sudden moves and clean off your vehicle. Take the extra time and arrive alive. There have been so many serious accidents this month.

Christmas Day looks calm for our region, with perhaps a few flurries along with cold temperatures. More active weather is on the way for the weekend. I will have more on that later this week.