Over 135,000 without power in Ontario - 16,000 in Quebec

From The Weather Network via Twitter, an eerie scene from Brampton, Ontario early this morning.

First a note on travel, all roads are icy and covered in sleet or snow. Travel is not advised and in many cases dangerous. Trees are falling along the 401 corridor and a state of emergency is in effect across Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence County in New York with only essential travel allowed, so rethink Plattsburgh if that was in your Sunday plans. Also if you have a flight out of Burlington, VT. the airport has been closed this morning, call ahead.

Ice and sleet continue to affect a wide portion of eastern Canada this morning with warnings posted from Atlantic Canada to southern Ontario. Montreal thankfully so far has made out well with about 20mm of mixed precipitation, mostly sleet which does not stick to power lines or trees. Roads are terrible but at least we have power. We are mixing with freezing rain this morning, and I have about 3.8mm of freezing rain through the gauge here on L'Ile Perrot. But the type of precipitation varies considerably based on where you are north to south in the area as well as elevation. This time the upper elevations are milder with rain while the valley's have the icy precipitation.

By far the hardest hit region overnight was Ontario from Kingston to Toronto and south into western New York. Heavy freezing rain with even thunder and lightning has brought down hundreds of trees onto power lines. Power is out to nearly 135,000 customers with another 16,000 out in Quebec, mostly along the US border. Temperatures remain cold in Montreal on strong northeast winds gusting to 70km/h. We will see more sleet and freezing rain mixed throughout the day but it will become light this afternoon. I will continue to monitor the storm and provide updates via twitter and the blog.