Freezing drizzle in Montreal - Nearly 400,000 without power in Ontario & Quebec

Damage in Toronto today. (Photo gcapepic.twitter.com)

Delayed flights, poor road travel and thousands without power are the rule today across Ontario and Quebec as a fierce winter storm continues. Nearly 350,000 Ontario homes have no power this afternoon, 250,000 in the GTA alone. Over 40,000 homes are in the dark in Quebec, but only 1200 in Montreal city. Heavy freezing rain and strong winds have toppled thousands of trees onto power lines across southern Ontario and into NY and Vermont. An arctic boundary is separating winter from summer and funneling moisture northeast into the area while cold northeast winds blow down the St. Lawrence Valley and into Ontario, and New York. Nearly 30mm of freezing rain has fallen on Toronto making it the biggest ice storm since 1998.

Meanwhile in Montreal nearly 60cm (2 feet) of snow and ice has piled up since last Sunday forcing workers to come and clear out the fire hydrants on L'Ile Perrot.

In Quebec freezing rain is now falling in Montreal after nearly 20cm of snow and 15cm of sleet and ice pellets since Friday morning. Meanwhile New York City hit a record high of 71F today, the third warmest December day on record. Portions of the middle Atlantic region are near 80F, just an incredible storm. The system also produced tornadoes in the southeast and thunder and lightning across New York State this morning. A winter storm warning remains posted for southern Quebec until this evening with mainly light freezing rain expected into this evening with strong winds to 70km/h in Montreal.