Spring snow on the way for southern Quebec

Strong winds accompanied a cold front on Friday afternoon, gusting up to 100km/h in southern Quebec. The wind knocked out power to more than 12,000 customers across the southern portion of the province. (Hydro Quebec Photo)

After a bright, sunny and cold weekend, milder temperatures are on the way for Monday, along with some wet snow. The snow should begin late Monday and end early Tuesday, with only 1 to 3cm expected for Montreal.

A strong cold front crossed southern Quebec on Friday, along with the first thunderstorms of the young season. The storms were fast moving, sweeping the Island of Montreal around 3pm, accompanied by heavy rain, lightning and wind gusts to 90km/h. Rainfall was decent, but not as much as I had anticipated, with 16mm falling in Montreal. Friday was the warmest day of 2020 to date, reaching 16.4C (61.5F) in Montreal.

Behind the front, strong west winds persisted well into Saturday, accompanied by rapidly dropping temperatures. Saturday and Sunday were bright and sunny, but blustery and cold. It has been a rather mild March, which made daytime highs below freezing this weekend seem rather frigid. Overnight lows were down into the minus teens, with windchill values approaching -18C (0F).

Montreal will remain on the extreme northern edge of a a quick moving spring coastal storm that will dump as much as 25cm of wet snow on interior southern New England. (AccuWeather.com)

Warmer air is on the way as two low pressure systems slide south of our region. The first will bring a period of wet snow to parts of Ontario tonight and Monday. This system will then be absorbed by a stronger storm moving up the eastern seaboard. The low pressure will pass east of New England before impacting Atlantic Canada. Montreal will remain on the northern of the storm, with a few centimetres of wet snow possible from late Monday into the overnight hours Tuesday. Further south across New England, 5 to 15cm is possible, with 2 to 4cm in eastern Ontario. Most of the snow should melt on contact during the daylight hours, but some slick spots may develop late Monday night.

Skies will clear out Tuesday, along with mild daytime highs of 5 to 7C.