Earthquake rattles Montreal

The 4.5 magnitude quake was centered east of Montreal near Beloeil on the South Shore.

A 4.5 magnitude earthquake rattled the region overnight, centered on the South Shore of metro Montreal near St Hyacinthe. The quake occurred at 12:19am about 9km northwest of Beloeil and was measured at a depth of 9.9km according to Earthquakes Canada. It was felt across a wide area from Ottawa to Cornwall and south into northern Vermont and New York. No damages or injuries were reported. Normally I am a very light sleeper along with my trusty canine Bella, who is very sensitive to these events. However with this one, we both slept through it and felt nothing at all. There were numerous reports of decent shaking across the city of Montreal, especially in the southwest sector. I grew up in Verdun and historically when we get a quake, that area of the city shakes something fierce. It is largely on landfill and very close to the St. Lawrence River. Here on L'Ile Perrot we have lots of solid rock which tends to absorb the shock as opposed to Verdun that shakes like a bowl of jello! No aftershocks have been reported as of 7:25 this morning.

We are in for a blustery day as a cold front approaches the region from Ontario. Temperatures will be mild in the 16C range on increasing southwest winds gusting over 50km/h. That should bring down plenty of leaves across the city. Showers are expected to develop in the afternoon and taper off by midnight. Thursday will be partly cloudy, blustery and cooler with highs near 10C. Another cold front will move across southern Quebec early on Friday morning with the coldest air of the season coming in behind it for Friday night. Look for widespread frost and freezing temperatures Friday night into Saturday before it warms a little this weekend. At this time Saturday looks like the best day of the weekend, sunny and milder.