Record warmth for eastern Canada - blizzard for the Prairies

A spectacular November sunset on the South Shore of Montreal on November 6. The weather across southern Quebec has been more like late summer than late fall. (Valley Weather Photo)

What a spectacular weekend it was across southern Quebec and Ontario. The weather was more like early September than mid-November. Numerous record highs were established from Ontario to Atlantic Canada. Here in Montreal the high both Saturday and Sunday was just shy of the 20C (68F) mark although some parts of the city, including here on Ile Perrot, hit 21C (70F). The record for both Saturday and Sunday was 20C established in 1975. Trudeau reached 19.8C Saturday and 19.3C Sunday. Montreal did manage a record high on Thursday, when the mercury hit 21C beating out the 1988 record of 19C. 

We are in for two more very warm days, with highs near 21C on Monday and Tuesday. The records to beat in Montreal are 19.4C set in 1945 for Monday, and 18.3C set in 1948 for Tuesday. This continuous stretch of very warm weather in the longest for any November since record keeping began in Montreal. The normal high for early November should be 7C (45F) and the low -1C (30F). Even the overnight periods have been very mild, only dropping to around 10C (50F).

We can thank strong high pressure anchored off the east coast of the US for the fantastic fall weather. The high will slide east by Wednesday, allowing a frontal system to move into our region. The front will tap into some moisture from the remains of hurricane Eta. Expect showers to develop late Tuesday or early Wednesday, and persist most of the day. Behind the front, we can expect clearing skies on Thursday, along with more seasonable temperatures. Highs will drop down to the single digits, with lows back below freezing.

Prairie Blizzard

While we have been enjoying a late taste of summer here in Montreal, winter weather has returned to western Canada. A strong winter storm has produced heavy snow and  high winds across Alberta and Saskatchewan. Many locations have reported over 30cm of snow, accompanied by winds of up to 90km/h. In Edmonton 20 to 40cm of snow fell Saturday, while a peak wind gust of 102km/h was observed at Ardenville. The snow was preceded by several hours of freezing rain in eastern Saskatchewan. Numerous roads are closed, including the Trans Canada Highway from Swift Current to the Alberta border. Blizzard warnings have been posted. The storm will taper off on Monday. Temperatures have plummeted in advance of the storm, down into the minus teens.

Catastrophic flooding in the wake of Hurricane Eta has resulted in over 150 deaths in Central America. The storm, the strongest of the 2020 season to date, has weakened from the once Category 4 powerhouse and is now heading for south Florida. (CBC)

One final weather note is hurricane Eta. Eta was a powerful category 4 storm when is smashed into the Nicaraguan coast on Tuesday, November 3. The storm has produced catastrophic flash flooding across Central America, with hundreds of fatalities reported. River flooding and landslides occurred after 300-500mm of rain fell. Eta emerged back into the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, regaining tropical storm strength, with 100km/h winds.  On Sunday evening, the storm was located 225 kilometres southeast of Miami. Eta will sweep across the Florida Keys overnight and move into central Florida on Monday.