The calm before the next storm

An image of a Montreal police officer attempting to ticket a snow covered Toyota Supra, has gone viral. The "car" is actually completely made of snow, the creation of 33-year-old machinist and artist Simon Laprise. Laprise made the car in front of his home in Montreal North after last weekends snowstorm. The police were quite amused by the whole event, leaving behind a thank you note under the only true car part, a wiper on the front of the snow sculpture. The note simply read, "Vous avez fait notre soiree!!! HAHAHA..."

After Montreal's record-breaking 36cm snowstorm last weekend, the weather has been rather docile this week. Despite that tranquilly, snow packed side roads and lots of icy spots and potholes on major highways have resulted in terrible traffic this week. Montreal had a frigid start to the work week, but the last day or so has been considerably milder. The mild weather will persist into the early part of next week. Along with the milder weather, clouds and flurries have prevailed across southern Quebec. We can expect this same sort of mundane weather into the weekend, with periods of very light snow and mild temperatures, near 0C (32F),  or perhaps slightly above by Saturday. The warm weather will have authorities watching area rivers and streams. Last Friday's mild weather and rainfall, produced ice jams and flooding in many parts of southern Quebec and New England. Read more HERE.

The next major storm system is expected to develop over the weekend in the southwest US, approaching the central Great Lakes by Monday. This storm is several days away, but a track like this usually results in a snow to rain event for southern Quebec. With the low pressure center passing west of Montreal, warmer air would be drawn into the St. Lawrence Valley. We can expect snow to develop Monday, mixing with freezing rain and eventually changing to rain early Tuesday. The mess will change back to snow late Tuesday night. Amounts may be significant, but I am not anticipating as much precipitation as this past storm. It is nearly impossible this far out to determine exactly how much precipitation will fall, what type and where. Stay tuned!