Frigid morning in Montreal

It is the coldest morning so far this winter at -27.2C (-17F) currently here at my home in southwest metro Montreal. Temperatures are cold everywhere with -35C (-31F) at both Cornwall/Massena and Huntingdon along the US border. Hydro Quebec is asking us to conserve power during the peak hours of 6-9am and 5-8pm as they are expecting record consumption in this cold wave. There is no relief this week with arctic high pressure well in control. Sunshine will prevail with a light breeze and a high of only -19C (-2F) today. Another frigid night is on tap for the entire area with lows down to -25C in the city and as cold as -30C in the suburbs. Thursday is the same as today, -19C with sunshine. There will be a brief warm up over the weekend with temperatures nudging up to -10C or so. Along with the "warmer" weather will be a chance for snow both Saturday and Sunday. This will come from two clipper systems, so expect a general 5-10cm snowfall, perhaps more locally. Not a big storm but as we saw Monday in Montreal, it does not take much to mess up traffic. We dive back into the deep freeze next Monday with another surge of arctic air heading south. Lots of winter left to go folks, so don't think this is over yet, as many thought last week with our prolonged thaw.

Snow clearing operations underway at Reagan National in Washington DC on Tuesday. Despite the best efforts of airports, thousands of flights were cancelled across the northeast including Montreal. (Getty Images)

Speaking of delays, thousands of  flights across North America have been delayed or cancelled as a result of 8-18 inches of snow, strong winds and extreme cold from Norfolk, Virginia north into Halifax and Atlantic Canada. Most major northeast US cities were impacted on Tuesday with Philadelphia and New York receiving 10 inches of snow. The storm responsible for all the weather is off the coast of Cape Cod this morning moving northeast towards Nova Scotia. Blizzard warnings are posted for many regions of Atlantic Canada today.