Freeze & thaw winter weather wearing down Montreal

Highway 20, west of Montreal, was closed overnight after a fatal, multi-vehicle accident around 11:45pm. The collision, near the Ontario border, involved at least a dozen cars and 7 trucks. (Radio Canada Photo)

Freezing Drizzle Advisory posted for Montreal.

Accidents, school closures, huge potholes, damaged roofs and trips to the emergency room with broken bones have become the norm in Montreal this winter. The non-stop freeze and thaw cycle is taking a toll on the city and southwest portion of the province. Since the weekend, Montreal has recorded nearly 10cm of snow and an additional 10mm of rain or freezing rain.

Thick ice is literally everywhere in Montreal. This month alone, the highest temperature at Trudeau Airport was 6.4C (44F), while the coldest was -18C (0F). Keep in mind, it is only February 7th! Over the next 36 hours, Montreal will go from the current temperature of -6C (21F), up to 7C (45F) by tomorrow morning, and back down to -7C (19F) by Friday afternoon. Freezing drizzle today will transition into a steadier freezing rain/rain mixture this evening, before changing to plain rain overnight. On Friday, a strong cold front will sweep across the St. Lawrence Valley, with rain changing to light snow by the afternoon. As the temperatures drop, the city will freeze over once again. Winds will become very strong as well on Friday, gusting between 50 and 80km/h.

Major Accidents
The freezing rain late Wednesday afternoon started off island to the south and west of the city around the evening commute, and spread into Montreal by 7pm. The hardest hit area was from Ile Perrot into eastern Ontario and south into New York and northern Vermont. Travel quickly became dangerous, with several major multi-vehicle accidents reported by police. One occurred on Highway 30 near Beauharnois, closing the road for several hours. A more serious accident occurred at 11:45pm in the eastbound lanes of Highway 20 at Riviere-Beaudette near the Ontario border. In this case, one fatality and two serious injuries were reported in the collision, which involved at least a dozen cars  and 7 transport trucks. The highway was closed until 4:30am Thursday, forcing hundreds of motorists to spend the night in their vehicles. Traffic backed up into Ontario, with the Ontario Provincial Police helping their Quebec colleagues.

Briefly looking ahead, the pattern that has seen very cold air in western Canada, and highly variable weather here in the east, is expected to persist. This weekend will be sunny and cold in Montreal, however another winter storm is forecast early next week. Depending on the exact path of the system, we may be looking at another messy mix of rain and snow.