Record breaking cold forecast for Montreal through Friday

The drive off L'Ile Perrot took over 40 minutes longer than normal on both Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Snow has fallen during the morning rush hour for the last 4 days in Montreal. The snow created numerous accidents and multi-hour commute times. Bitter cold will now arrive to end the work week. (ValleyWeather Photo)

An arctic cold front will be crossing the St. Lawrence Valley this afternoon, accompanied by gusty snow squalls and biting cold. Wednesday morning was just another in a string of brutal commutes in Montreal. Heavy snow falling between 6 and 9am, created terrible road conditions, with numerous accidents reported. Travel was brought to a standstill in metro Montreal for the second consecutive morning. I gave up and took the bus from Vaudreuil, the first time in over 20 years.

Record cold is forecast to arrive late Wednesday, with an overnight low of -15C (5F) expected for Montreal. The record is -14.4C (6F) set in 1987. Thursday will likely break records as well, for both high and low temperatures. The record low for Thursday is -14.4C set in 1972.

The cold air will be accompanied by another burst of heavy snow and squalls across southern Quebec and Ontario. Winds are forecast to gust up to 60km/h through Thursday, creating dangerous windchill values and producing blowing snow. The forecast high Thursday, under partly cloudy skies, is -7C (19F), 15 degrees below normal for late November. Temperatures will moderate into the weekend, but with the renewed threat of more precipitation, this time in the form of rain or freezing rain. More on that later.