Warm air streaming north

12:45 update: A persistent northeast wind here in the St. Lawrence Valley has kept our temperatures at a very cool 11C at the airport in Montreal and only 8C at Quebec City. Meanwhile Toronto is up to 30C behind the warm front and Burlington, Vermont 23C. Look for breaks in the cloud soon to allow our temperature to rise. We may not have enough daylight to reach 25C as I thought we would, however lets see how the afternoon moves along.

It is a cool and wet morning across the St. Lawrence Valley today with temperatures on brisk northeast winds at only 10C in Montreal. Major changes are just to our south, as a warm front is lifting north of the valley this morning. The heavy rain along the front overnight left about 38mm (1.5") in my gauge on Ile Perrot. The rain is almost done for the time being as the front lifts north into the Laurentians. Behind this front record breaking warm air is streaming into upstate New York, Ontario and eventually southwest Quebec. For example Watertown, New York jumped from 56F to 73F (14C to 23C) in one hour overnight. High temperatures across the region are forecast in the 77 to 86F (25 to 30C) range today. Montreal is officially forecasting 22C, however I believe with the clearing to our southwest we should be warmer than that. A cold front will arrive by evening and put an end to the one day heat with showers and thunderstorms into the overnight period. The weekend looks unsettled at times but decent overall. Some showers are possible both days and it will be much cooler, only around 17C. Most of the weekend should be dry.

Another factor today in advance of the cold front will be a strong southwest winds. Strong wind warnings are flying along the rivers and lakes as winds gust between 30 and 50km/h and even higher in some locations.

Tropical Storm Matthew
Matthew developed yesterday east of the Central American coastline. This morning the storm is about 170 miles east of the Nicaragua/Honduras border and moving west at 16mph. This system has prompted warnings along the coast with landfall expected later tonight. Afterwards computer models differ on a forecast track but look for the storm to lift north across the Yucatan area over the weekend and possibly into the southern Gulf of Mexico by Monday.