Colder & snow?

Right on cue snow arrived on the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire on Monday morning, October 1. (Mount Washington Obs Photo)

Ok now that I have your attention, no snow for Montreal, at least not this week. After what has been a seemingly endless stretch of above normal temperatures, we are looking at a potent cold front diving across Alberta and the northern Plains today and into the Great Lakes by the weekend. Accompanying the front will be the coldest air of the season so far along with rain and snow showers. Places like Winnipeg that were near 30C on Sunday will drop down to the single digits by Thursday with flurries possible. A couple of centimetres of wet snow may fall as early as this evening in Calgary. Winds are forecast to be in the 50 to 70km/h range with the front across a wide area of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Snow is also forecast from Eagle Pass to Rogers Pass in BC with up to 10 centimetres (4 inches) possible.

A softer version of the front will arrive in time for Thanksgiving Weekend in Montreal with cooler weather and highs near 10C by Monday. Until then Montreal is in for above normal temperatures with highs between 18 and 20C. That is the good news, but clouds and showers will be on the increase today as well. It is sunny at the moment but we only have to look into eastern Ontario to see clouds on the increase with showers moving up the 401 corridor. Partly cloudy skies and scattered showers will persist into Wednesday for southern Quebec and Ontario.