April begins as March ended in Montreal, warm and wet

An empty Highway 20 eastbound near the Dorval circle during the Thursday morning commute. Two rare observations to note, first there is absolutely no traffic due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Secondly, veiled sunshine, with clouds thickening and lowering from the east rather than the west, as a coastal storm system begins to impact the region. (Valley Weather Photo) 

Retrograding low pressure south of Nova Scotia will be responsible for increasing clouds and precipitation in Montreal on Thursday. Typically precipitation moves from west to east across the Montreal region, but every now and then we see it move up the Saint Lawrence Valley from the Atlantic Ocean. Rain will be the dominant form of precipitation in Montreal, but other parts of the province, including Quebec City, may see a little wet snow. The rain will begin this afternoon and persist into Friday. Winds will become gusty as well, from the northeast up to 50km/h. Temperatures will be relatively mild, with daytime highs in Montreal between 6C and 8C (43F to 47F) and overnight lows around 1C (33F).

MARCH SUMMARY

March was a very warm and wet month in Montreal, more springlike than anything. Typically we receive several major snowstorms over the course of the month in Montreal, but such was not the case this year. The city received a record breaking 129mm of precipitation, surpassing the previous benchmark of 115mm set way back in 1942. With the exception of a paltry 9cm of snow, the balance was rain. The reason most of the precipitation was in liquid form was due to the fact the temperatures ended the month well above normal. The average at Trudeau Airport was plus 0.7C (33.3F), significantly above the long-term monthly average of -2C (28.4F). We also experienced two thunderstorms in Montreal, not rare for March but certainly unusual. We started March with 20cm of snow on the ground at the airport, but most had melted away by the 15th.

The abundant rainfall combined with snowmelt has municipalities around metro Montreal on standby, and in preparation mode, but so far flooding has been minimal.

While southwestern Quebec was warm and wet, the eastern portion of the province was the exact opposite, cold and snowy. Temperatures in the Saguenay, Lower North Shore and Gaspe regions were actually below normal. Over 100cm of snow fell at Sept Iles during the month, with 114cm of snow still on the ground as of April 1st.