Spring arrives in Montreal this week, 20C by Friday

Snow in April in Montreal. Over 10cm fell on Friday here on L'Ile Perrot. It has since melted. (ValleyWX Picture)

We had nearly 13cm of wet snow on Friday here in Montreal, along with several hours of ice pellets and freezing rain. It was a nasty day with ice covered roads and just plain raw. This morning is cold with frost as we start at -2C. That is the bad news, the good news is all the snow has melted and we are in for some spring weather, finally this week. It starts today with sunny skies through increasing clouds and temperatures warming into the 11 to 13C range. A cold front will approach the region early Tuesday with showers and perhaps some thunder. It will remain mild tonight around 8C and slightly cooler Tuesday, perhaps 10C with gusty southwest winds and showers.

By Wednesday into the end of the week the region will come under the influence of yet another big late season storm moving from the Rockies towards the Great Lakes. This one however will pass well northwest of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec leaving us in the warm sector. Temperatures will climb from the teens into the low 20's by Friday in Montreal with partly cloudy skies and showers.

Winter held on across North Dakota as it has in so many places this year with a record breaking 20 plus inches of snow in Bismark yesterday. The storm created blizzard conditions forcing authorities to close Interstate 94 from Montana to Minnesota as well as Interstate 29 from north of Fargo south towards South Dakota. The snow this morning is spreading into northwest Ontario with 7cm already in Thunder Bay.

Bismark, North Dakota with  one of its snowiest April days on record yesterday.