Perfect stretch of fall weather ahead for Montreal

A very smoky sunset over southern Quebec on Wednesday evening. Gusty southwest winds delivered smoke from the western United States wildfires all the way  into eastern Canada. The smoke was very high in the atmosphere and had very little impact at the surface. The air was swept clean by a cold front on Thursday morning. (Valley Weather Photo)

High pressure is settling into southern Quebec Friday afternoon, with the prospect of near-perfect late summer, early fall weather through the middle of next week. Along with bright sunshine will come colder than normal temperatures through the weekend. 

There is a good chance of frost in most locations tonight and especially Saturday night. The only exception will be along the St. Lawrence River and in the urban areas of Montreal. This is early for the first frost, with the average date not coming until October. But that has been 2020, snow in May followed by a scorching hot summer, and now an early fall.

Overnight lows through the weekend will range from 0C (32F) to 3C (38F). Daytime highs will be in the 12C (54F) to 14C (56F) range. Those highs will rise slightly into the middle to perhaps upper teens by next Tuesday. No precipitation is forecast through at least Wednesday.

The forecast track of hurricane Teddy, has the storm approaching Nova Scotia as a hurricane, by late in the day Tuesday. (NHC)

Tropical Atlantic

Early this morning, a rather high deck of stratus cloud cover moved over the southern portion of the province including Montreal. The clouds were actually associated with the remains of hurricane Sally, passing well south of our region, over the middle Atlantic states. Sally made landfall as a category 2 hurricane around 5am Wednesday morning in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The storm produced significant, widespread damage along coastal Alabama and the Florida panhandle. Top wind speed reported was at Gulf Shores at 197km/h (123 mph). Historic rainfall occurred with Sally with 1 to 2 feet falling in many locations. The largest accumulation was at Bellview, Florida, where 760mm (30") of rain fell. Over 500,000 homes and businesses were left without power across the southeast US. Three fatalities have been associated with the hurricane so far, with damage expected to run into the billions of dollars.

Sally was just one of several storms that are in the Atlantic basin currently. Powerful hurricane Teddy was located 1420km southeast of Bermuda Friday afternoon, with 215km/h winds. Teddy is forecast to brush by Bermuda this weekend, before taking aim at Nova Scotia. Teddy is expected to approach Canadian waters, still as a hurricane, by late Tuesday. 

Further southwest of Teddy's location is tropical storm Wilfred. In the Gulf of Mexico, tropical depression 22 is expected to become a tropical storm today and possibly a hurricane this weekend. The storms future may take it into the upper Texas coast by early next week.