Powerful winter storm to impact southern Quebec this weekend

Montreal has had a rather tame winter so far this year, with mostly nuisance snow falling. To date, only 77cm of snow has fallen at Trudeau Airport. That may change this weekend, as a major snowstorm crosses New England. Near-blizzard conditions are possible on Sunday. (ValleyWeather)

Cold air has surged back into southern Quebec on Thursday morning, with temperatures over 20 degrees colder than they were on Wednesday afternoon. The arctic front also produced scattered snow squalls as it moved across the region yesterday. Arctic high pressure in control of our weather today, will slide east of Montreal tonight, allowing for a weak storm system to bring light snow into the region. Snow will begin overnight, with 1 to 3cm expected for Montreal.

Depending on the track of the storm, parts of the St. Lawrence Valley could receive up to 30cm of wind driven snow on Sunday. (AccuWeather.com)

The big weather news will come this weekend, as a powerful winter storm takes shape over Kentucky, and moves towards southern New England. Computer models are in general agreement that a storm is on the way, what they can't agree on is the exact track. At this time, we can expect snow to start in Montreal during the evening hours Saturday and persist through Sunday. For Montreal and points south, 15 to 30cm is likely, with Montreal being on the lower end of the range. North and west of Montreal towards Ottawa and across eastern Ontario, 5 to 15cm is likely. South of the border across central New England, 30 to 50cm is possible. Snowfall amounts will become clearer as the storm develops. A final track difference of 50 to 100km north or south will have a tremendous impact on how much snow falls here in Montreal.

Near-blizzard conditions for Montreal
Regardless of the amount of snow that occurs, near blizzard conditions are expected in the St. Lawrence Valley. The combination of falling, blowing and drifting snow, bitter cold temperatures in the minus teens and 50 to 70km/h north and northeast winds will make travel dangerous on Sunday. Windchill values on Sunday with the storm will be in the minus 30s in Montreal. Travel on Sunday in southern Quebec, eastern Ontario and New England is not recommended. Travel will remain very poor in eastern Quebec and Atlantic Canada into Monday.

Conditions will improve Monday in Montreal, but the weather will remain windy and bitterly cold. Winter Storm Watches have been posted across all of New England and New York, with a special weather statement for southern Quebec. Warnings or advisories will likely be needed for Montreal as the event draws closer.