Historic cold snap slowly coming to an end

The seasons were in turmoil this past weekend across parts of Canada. Historic cold and snow occurred from Ontario into Atlantic Canada, with record warmth surging into portions of B.C.

If you thought it was stupid cold for May in Montreal, you would be right. The current cold snap is breaking records dating back over 100 years. Montreal has had a week of brutally cold weather for early May. Over the last week we have tied or broke low temperature records dating back to the turn of the last century. On Tuesday morning, the overnight low of -0.1C (31.8F) in Montreal broke the record of 0.8C set in 2005, and was the coldest low for the date since 1902. On Saturday morning, the low reached 0.0C (32F), matching a 113 year old record for the coldest May 9th, established in 1907. Montreal has been under a frost advisory since last Thursday morning, and it remains in effect through Wednesday morning, with forecast lows expected below freezing at -1C (30F).

The daytime hours have been no better, with limited sunshine and gusty northwest winds. Highs have struggled to say the least, remaining in the single digits, well below the normal of 19C (66F). We also had flurries on both Friday and Saturday. Winds speeds in the 30 to 50km/h range have produced windchills well below freezing.

The May snowstorm caught many motorists by surprise over the weekend. Between 15 and 30cm of snow fell across far eastern Quebec, New Brunswick (shown above) and northern New England. (Photo @VictoriaStar)

We have not been alone in this historic cold snap. Most of eastern North America has been shivering, with widespread records established. A strong storm produced heavy wet snow across New England this past weekend. The same system dumped over 30cm on sections of New Brunswick, including Woodstock where 33cm fell. In Toronto snow fell on four consecutive days, including 2.8cm Monday, bringing the monthly May total to 3.2cm. By contrast only 6.6cm fell in March and 0.4cm in April. Across Ontario, 17 new record lows occurred Monday, including -2.7C at Welland, breaking a 135 year old record of -2.2C set in 1885.

Manitoba had 14 record lows and Saskatchewan 9. Other provinces are still tallying up the new records. Meanwhile in stark contrast, temperatures were in the middle 20s to low 30s across interior B.C. where 18 record highs occurred on Sunday.

There is relief in sight for eastern Canada. After a couple of more cold mornings, temperatures will begin to moderate into the weekend. Montreal can expect temperatures approaching highs of 20C (68F) by Saturday. As we look ahead to the end of May, a swing in our fortunes is on the horizon. Several weather models are indicating above normal temperatures for southern Quebec heading from late May into June. Time will tell.