Crazy May weather from coast to coast

Flood waters are slowly receding in Vaudreuil-Dorion this week. (Valley Weather Photo)

April is typically a month of sharp transitions in the weather. This past April was just plain cold, so as a result May has become the battleground month between winter and summer. The weather is angry all over North America.

In southern Quebec, another 15mm of rain fell over the weekend, much of that coming in the first thunderstorms to rattle across the metro Montreal region. The nocturnal storms crossed the city shortly after midnight early Monday morning. Monday started off with a blanket of thick fog across southern Quebec, followed by strong southwest winds up to 70km/h and the warmest day of 2019 to date, reaching 24C (76F) at my home on Île Perrot.

The rain has little impact on water levels along the Lake of Two Mountains. On Monday, the lake was at 24.15 metres in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, forecast to drop to 24.02 metres by Wednesday. Major flood stage starts at 23.90 metres, with a little luck the lake will continue to drop over the coming days. Meanwhile both Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River continue to rise into major flood stage. Typically the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal does a good job of handling the excess water, but many municipalities remain on high alert. The word is, leave all your sandbags and dikes in place until told otherwise by your town.

A tornado forms over Oklahoma Monday afternoon.

The warm air and storms were part of a larger weather system that produced widespread severe weather over the southern plains and into the Midwest, parts of Ontario and the Eastern Seaboard. There were dozens of reports of tornadoes, wind and hail damage, as well as flash flooding. On the backside of this low pressure system, cold air is pouring into the Rockies and western US plains, with snow falling in several locations including Denver. Widespread winter storm warnings for heavy snow stretch from Colorado to Montana.

A friend sent me this photo of a May snowstorm in suburban Denver on Tuesday morning. This is part of the same low pressure system producing severe thunderstorms across Oklahoma and Texas. (Photo courtesy Amanda Comeau)

Meanwhile, very warm temperatures and strong winds are fuelling wildfires across northern Alberta. The region is very dry, with High Level, Alberta recording a paltry 4 percent of normal rainfall in March and April. According to Alberta Wildfire, the Chuckegg Creek fire has already consumed 69,000 hectares and remains out of control. The fire is only 3 km south of High Level, as a result a full evacuation in the town of 4000 was ordered Monday afternoon at 4pm.

If all this wild weather was not enough for you, the first tropical system of the Atlantic hurricane season formed on Monday. Sub-tropical storm Andrea, located 280 miles west of Bermuda on Tuesday morning, is already weakening with 35mph winds. The storm is forecast to dissipate later today.

A wall of smoke and flames generated from the massive Chuckegg Creek wildfire, looms just south of High Level, Alberta on Monday afternoon. (Alberta Wildfire)