Strong thunderstorms produce widespread power outages and an EF-2 tornado

The roof of a duplex in Saint-Leonard was peeled back by the strong thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon. (CTV News)

A fast moving line of strong thunderstorms swept across eastern Ontario and southern Quebec Wednesday afternoon. The storms were moving in excess of 50km/h, racing across the island of Montreal from west to east in less than 30 minutes. A wind gust of 93km/h was observed at Trudeau Airport as the front passed. Further east near Thetford Mines, an EF-2 tornado occurred in the rural region around Saint-Julien, with winds estimated between 180 and 220km/h. Accompanying the tornado was 50mm of rain and 2 to 4cm hail. Thousands of trees were flattened and a mobile home was destroyed. In eastern Ontario, a microburst with an estimated 170km/h wind gust, produced considerable damage to a farm north of Smiths Falls.

(CBC Photo)

In Montreal, numerous tees and branches fell as a result of the storm, several onto cars and hydro lines. A roof was peeled back from a duplex in Saint-Leonard. In the wake of the thunderstorms, Hydro Quebec reported over 170,000 homes and businesses without power in the province, most in metro Montreal and across the South Shore, West Island and Vaudreuil. The majority of clients had their power restored by Thursday morning.

The front ushered in much cooler and drier air, with a hint of fall in the air by Thursday morning. In Montreal the temperature fell from a high of 32C (89F) early Wednesday afternoon, down to 15C (59F) Thursday morning.

Warm and humid start to September
The cool, dry weather will be short-lived, as more heat and humidity will arrive across the Great Lakes and southern Quebec over the Labour Day weekend. There is a chance of showers and thunderstorms through Monday. High temperatures are expected in the upper 20s with humidex values in the middle 30s throughout long weekend. The warm weather is expected to prevail in Montreal through the first couple of weeks of September.