20-40cm snowstorm for Southern Quebec

L'Ile Perrot has recorded 15cm of snow since midnight. (ValleyWX)

So what looked to be a near miss two days ago will turn into a 25cm Valentines Day snowstorm for Montreal. You have to love weather forecasting in southern Quebec. As with any coastal storm, a track change of 50km east or west can spell a huge difference in what you see at the surface. We are seeing that this morning with a sharp cutoff in snow as you move northwest of Montreal into the Ottawa Valley. Here on L'Ile Perrot I have measured 15cm (6") since midnight including 5cm (2") between 4am and 6:30am. Overnight we had strong northeast winds up to 65km/h they have since backed off to the northwest and down to 30km/h. They will gust to 50km/h today causing blowing snow with visibility often under 1km. The heavy snow will taper off by noon with storm totals of 15cm for eastern Ontario, up to 25cm here in Montreal and 30-50cm in the Townships, Quebec City and the Gaspe region. The snow has produced the usual problems on the roads in southern Quebec along with a fair amount of school closings, oddly north of the city where they have had less snow. There are numerous delays and cancellations at Trudeau Airport with their website advising you to call ahead.

Strong low pressure on the Maine coast this morning is spiraling precipitation down the St. Lawrence Valley. The barometric pressure has been falling rapidly for the last several hours indicating a deepening storm, it is currently 990mb here at my home. Temperatures are thankfully mild at -3C, where they should remain for most of the day. It looks like another weak system will bring 2 or 3cm of snow for Saturday before we clear out for a calm and cold Sunday.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody, be safe out there.