Strong thunderstorms possible for Montreal today - Arthur's aftermath

Above: I had friends visiting New Richmond on the Gaspe Coast this past weekend and they sent me photos of some of the tree damage from Arthur. Below: Hydro Quebec crews busy in the Gaspe restoring power to thousands. They will also send 40 crews to New Brunswick to help. (ValleyWX Photos)

  It was a very busy and wild weather weekend from coast to coast in Canada. Whether it was heat and humidity, fierce thunderstorms, strong winds or hurricane Arthur, we had a little bit of everything. Montreal remained on the western edge of Tropical Storm Arthur with high cloud cover and very gusty northwest winds. The winds across southern Quebec were in the 40-60km/h range most of the weekend. This resulted in scattered power outages across the region.

MONTREAL THUNDERSTORMS
Today we can expect a frontal boundary to slice into a humid air mass giving southern Quebec the possibility of strong thunderstorms. The main threat for Montreal would be from heavy rain and perhaps gusty winds up to 80km/h. The storms should begin by noon and last into the early evening. It will be warm and muggy with highs near 26C.

Fredericton, New Brunswick was hard hit by Arthur with numerous trees down and power out. (CBC News)

Tropical Storm Arthur
Arthur is now history this morning, dissipating over the far north Atlantic. The storm crossed the Nova Scotia coast early on Saturday morning with winds over 100km/h and heavy rain. While flooding and a small storm surge did occur, the big news was the wind. A peak gust to 139km/h (87mph) was reported in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and winds well in excess of 100km/h occurred across a wide area of New Brunswick, P.E.I and eastern Quebec. Thousands of trees were toppled across Atlantic Canada and Quebec, many hitting homes and taking down power lines. The wind knocked power out to over 250,000 homes in Quebec and the Maritimes. Over 135,000 in New Brunswick alone making it the largest power outage in that provinces history. NB Power reports 155 crews restoring power with another 40 arriving from Hydro Quebec today. It may take until Thursday for all power to be fully restored.