Winter arrives close to home

Plows clear away heavy wet snow from Route 115 in northern New Hampshire early Saturday morning. The storm dumped 10 to 20cm of snow at the highest elevations of the White and Green Mountains, and into the Beauce and Townships of southern Quebec. (NHDOT Photo).

The first snowflakes of the season fell across portions of southeastern Quebec and adjacent northern New England late Friday into early Saturday morning. The snow was produced by deep Atlantic moisture being transported inland by a developing coastal storm. Meanwhile a cold front that gave Montreal showers on Friday, provided marginally cold enough temperatures for snowfall across the higher elevations of the region. 

Over 15cm of snow fell across the Beauce and parts of the Eastern Townships into northern New Hampshire and eastern Vermont. Snow also fell at Le Massif in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.  The snow was accompanied by strong winds, in some cases up to 90km/h, knocking down tree branches and power lines under the weight of the heavy wet snow. At the lower elevations, the precipitation fell as heavy rain, with close to 70mm at Newport and 55mm at Sherbrooke where snow mixed in at the end. A peak wind gust of 105km/h (65 mph) was reported on Ile-aux-Perroquets east of Sept Iles. Montreal missed the storm, with just a few showers Friday and seasonable temperatures over the weekend.

Western Arctic Chill

Meanwhile, arctic air has been pouring into western Canada, delivering early season snow and frigid temperatures across portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Dozens of new record lows were established over the weekend, including -14.7C (5.5F) at Edmonton Airport early Saturday morning. The accompanying snow blanketed portions of the southern Prairies making travel very poor.

The cold air will moderate as it moves east, with southern Ontario and Quebec remaining mild through early next week. The weather will be wet in Montreal, with frequent frontal boundaries producing clouds and light rain through at least Thursday. 

Briefly looking ahead to next week in Montreal, we may be seeing our own snowflakes as we head towards Halloween. Time will tell, but I am watching a couple of interesting systems that are brewing. Stay tuned!