Heavy snow may impact southern Quebec by Thursday

Clouds off to the southeast from the powerful storm off the New England coast, produced a spectacular sunset over the frozen St. Lawrence River on Île Perrot Saturday evening. The storm produced record amounts of snow for many along the east coast, but only high clouds and gusty north winds in Montreal. (Valley Weather Photo)

The weather is rather tranquil to start the work week in Montreal, with high pressure generally in control through Tuesday. We can expect some high clouds and perhaps a snowflake or two on Monday. Temperatures are warming up this week, and we may even nudge above the freezing point by Wednesday. It is another cold start to the day Monday however, with lows between -16C and -20C across the region. Daytime highs will warm up nicely, with highs expected around -10C (14F). We gain a few more degrees on Tuesday, with fair skies and a high of -2C (28F) in Montreal. 

The forecast will then become very interesting and somewhat complicated by Wednesday. A warm front will lift north of the St. Lawrence Valley, with some light mixed precipitation expected Wednesday afternoon. The temperature will finally rise above the freezing point to 2C (36F). Late Wednesday into Thursday, a potent cold front will slip south of the region, with arctic air quickly flowing back into southern Quebec. That front will settle somewhere across central New York State, with developing low pressure moving along it through Friday. The result will be a period of steady snow Thursday. Amounts are still up in the air and will depend greatly on how far south the cold front sinks. At this time the potential exists for snowfall amounts greater than 15cm in Montreal. There are sill a ton of details to work out, but plan for frozen precipitation from late Wednesday through Friday morning, along with blustery conditions and dropping temperatures.

Southern New England was blasted by a strong winter storm on Saturday. Snowfall rates of 5 to 10cm per hour occurred, along with winds in excess of 90km/h. (Photo: City of Dover, New Hampshire)

Over the weekend, a powerful nor'easter moved along the Atlantic coast and into Nova Scotia. The storm produced record amounts of snow, with close to 60cm in Boston. Winds gusted to hurricane strength in many locations. Coastal flooding and power outages were reported from New Jersey to Newfoundland. The storm also impacted the Maritimes and eastern Quebec. Moncton reported 40cm of snow along with 90km/h winds. In Quebec, winds gusted to 100km/h across the Gaspe Peninsula and 113km/h in Blanc Sablon on the Lower North Shore. The wind and snow closed several highways in eastern Quebec. In Newfoundland both heavy rain and snow occurred. A peak wind gust to 149km/h was observed at Wreckhouse. On Prince Edward Island, motorists needed rescue by the RCMP in absolute blizzard conditions, after 40cm of snow combined with winds gusting to 109km/h. Many roads became impassable.