Extreme Cold Warning in effect for southern Quebec

An extreme cold warning has been issued for Montreal as the coldest air in decades settles into the region. Temperatures will remain in the minus 20s for many on Friday.

Extreme Cold Warning in effect for southern Quebec and eastern Ontario through Saturday. Frostbite can occur in minutes at these temperatures, so dress warmly.

Hydro-Québec is asking residents to cut back on their electric consumption during this cold snap in an effort to protect the grid. They suggest you drop the thermostat by a degree or two and refrain from using large appliances during peak hours.

The coldest air in decades has descended upon southern Quebec and Ontario Friday. Frigid temperatures are being observed across the Montreal region Friday morning, with minus 20s in the St. Lawrence Valley and minus 30s across the Townships and Laurentians. The low temperature at my on home on Île Perrot was -28.6C (-20F), the coldest morning since I moved there in 2009. The wind is light at the moment but will pick up to a slight breeze around 20km/h today making windchills unbearable, between -30C and -40C at times. An extreme cold warning is in effect for basically all of southern Ontario and Quebec through Saturday morning.

To find the last time it was this cold in Montreal, you have to go back to January 15, 2004 when the mercury dipped to -29.1C (-20.4F) at Trudeau Airport. The record low for Friday is -27.5C (-17.5C) set in 2005. We missed the record officially at the airport, but have a chance Saturday morning of breaking the 1976 record low of -28.3C (-19F). The forecast low for Montreal tonight is -30C (-22F).

Despite bright but ineffective sunshine, the high both days will struggle to reach -19C (-2F). A weak clipper system arrives from western Canada on Sunday, with some light snow and a much milder high of -6C (21F). The warm-up will be very brief as temperatures will plunge Sunday night to -23C (-9F) and only warm to -16C (4C) on Monday.