The calm after the storm in Montreal

Where is Spring? Allard Avenue in Verdun early Wednesday morning. Over 20cm of wet snow has fallen across metro Montreal since late Tuesday.
(Photo J. Balena)

Low pressure is slowly relaxing its grip on southern Quebec late Thursday afternoon, with partial sunshine developing. This comes after 48 hours of what seemed like endless snow. Storm accumulations were very impressive across our area, with 20 to 30cm across metro Montreal, the highest snowfall as expected, occurring south of the city. The mountains of northern Vermont and New York were buried under several feet of snow over the last few days. A special weather statement from the National Weather Service in Burlington Thursday afternoon, even hinted at an elevated risk for avalanches in the region. Keep this in mind if you have ski plans this weekend. The most recent storm is slowly spinning across eastern New Brunswick, forecast to move out of the region on Friday.

In the wake of the storm, unseasonably cold air will begin to filter into Montreal. Skies will be partly cloudy on Friday, but it will be cold with overnight lows near -7C (19F) and daytime highs at -2C (28F). A cold front arrives Saturday, accompanied by snow flurries and perhaps some brief squalls. Much colder air will arrive behind the front on gusty northwest winds. The high Saturday will be -5C (23F), with an overnight low of -16C (3F). Sunday will remain breezy and cold, with a very slow moderation in temperatures. After the mild weather of the last few weeks, this cold snap will feel brutal. As we look ahead to next week, a fourth coastal storm is expected to develop by late Tuesday and possibly impact New England. At this time it is too early to tell if we will experience any weather form the system.