Sandy recovery begins - record high for Montreal

Hydro crews arrive in Vermont to help GMP restore power. (Burlington Free Press)

The remains of once powerful Hurricane Sandy are spinning across Pennsylvania this morning and will lift across Lake Ontario and into Quebec later today. There is not much left to the mighty super storm. The cost from her week long rampage has been high, with damage estimates running into the billions. Nearly 6 million people across the middle Atlantic, Northeast, New England, Great Lakes and Midwest remain in the dark the vast majority of those in New Jersey and New York. Crews are pouring into the region including 25 from Hydro Quebec that have arrived in Vermont and another team heading for southern coastal New Hampshire  Despite the help it could be over 1 week for all the power to be restored. The subway system in New York remains crippled. Some seaside New Jersey communities have catastrophic damage with homes and infrastructure gone. It will be weeks before things can return to some kind of normal. The death toll in the US stands at 33 with 1 in Canada and 67 in the Caribbean.

Complete destruction in Brigantine, New Jersey on the Atlantic Coast. (CNN)

The wrap up for the storm in Montreal is like this, with the worst of the storm heading south and west into Ontario, we fared pretty well. There were a few trees down and power at one point was out to 50,000 Hydro Quebec subscribers, but all in all we did ok. Rainfall was light with about 15-25mm here in the south, most of that falling in heavier showers on Tuesday. There remain a chance for some showers today as more energy spins into southern Quebec. Meanwhile the warm air on the east side of the storm delivered Montreal another record high on Tuesday. The high was 21.3C (70F) edging out the old high of 20.6C set in 1989. Montreal was actually warmer than many southern US cities in a bizarre flip flop of the weather this week. Colder air will move in by the weekend with a return to more normal November weather.

HALLOWEEN FORECAST

Halloween in Montreal looks variable as it has been for most of the week. Temperatures will be around 10C (50F) with a chance of some showers. Have fun and be safe.