Record breaking cold to surge into southern Quebec

A little hope in the storm: an absolutely spectacular rainbow taken by a member of the Quebec Vortex team and posted on their Facebook page. The photo was taken after thunderstorms Sunday afternoon, near Varennes, Quebec. (Quebec Vortex)

Frost Advisory in effect for southern Quebec

Spring has been rather cold across most of eastern Canada, with little change expected for our immediate future. This past Sunday was the warmest day of the year so far, with an official high of 20.9C (69F) at Trudeau Airport. The brief warmth came after a very cold April in the city. The average temperature for the month was 5.1C well below the normal of 6.4C. Accompanying the cold has been plenty of cloud cover and gusty winds.

The sunny, warm weekend came to an abrupt end late Sunday, as a strong cold front swept across the region. The front was accompanied by strong winds and some very intense thunderstorms, especially northeast of Montreal.

The warm weather quickly became a memory as temperatures dropped to a high of only 11C (52F) on Monday. More very cold weather is on the way, as a surge of arctic air is expected into the upcoming weekend. Skies should clear out Tuesday evening in Montreal, setting the stage for frost. A frost advisory is in effect, with lows forecast at or slightly below freezing. The reality is that we may have frost on each of the next several mornings, right into the upcoming weekend.

Adding to the miserable cold weather heading into the Mother's Day weekend, will be a deepening upper level low. The system will slide across the Great Lakes and into the region Friday and Saturday. Expect plenty of cloud cover, gusty winds and near-record cold temperatures. There is even the risk of some light snow or flurries late Friday night into early Saturday morning.

Snow is May is unusual for Montreal, but not out of the question. Looking back briefly, snow fell in May as recently as 2017, with a trace measured. The biggest May snowstorm on record for Montreal occurred on 9th of the month in 1963, when 21.8cm fell.

As far as temperatures are concerned, the coldest May reading for Montreal was -4.4C (24F), set on May 2 in 1974. We have an outside shot at beating that record this upcoming weekend.