Freezing fog

Ice fog over the St. Lawrence River near Dorion on Sunday. ValleyWX Pic

Low level moisture and a light northeast flow in the St. Lawrence Valley have produced dense freezing fog over most of the region this morning. The fog extends south into the Champlain Valley and has put a layer of thin ice and frost on everything including roadways. An advisory was posted until 7am for this condition in the Champlain Valley, and this is affecting routes such as the 20/401/40/417 and south along I-87 and I-89. The fog has lowered visibility as well under 1km and the airport in Montreal since 10pm last evening and even lower off island. Conditions will slowly improve this morning, with partly cloudy skies for the day and a trend to increasing cloudiness by evening. It is a chilly start to the say region wide with temperatures around -8C.

There is so much weather going on, it is difficult to find a place to start. Lets look east of us into Atlantic Canada again. The same scenario that has delivered the last two big storms to that area will unfortunately do the same this week. High pressure stalled over Greenland will again force low pressure of off Cape Hatteras to take an unusual path across Nova Scotia and into Quebec as opposed to moving out to sea. This will produce very heavy rain again with flooding quite likely in Nova Scotia and the Gaspe, with heavy wet snow inland over western New Brunswick. Up to 60mm of rain is forecast with very strong winds to 100km/h and a strong storm surge producing coastal flooding and erosion.

This same storm will push a warm front west towards Montreal with light snow expected to fall Tuesday into Wednesday. At this time 5-10cm is not out of the question. Winds should be light and temperatures mild with this upcoming snow. The good news for the rest of the Christmas period through Sunday, at least in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, is that high pressure should dominate with seasonable temperatures and dry conditions, ideal for travelling.

EUROPEAN COLD AND SNOW

I could never cover the situation in Europe with as much detail or expertise as my weather friend Mark Vogan. His blog is linked on my page year round, but here is a link to update you on the terrible, historic winter weather that is gripping much of Europe. The weather has stalled holiday travel, and that has had a ripple affect on air travel around the globe. Read his blog HERE .