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| Over 100 Hydro-Québec crews were on the job late Sunday and Monday after thunderstorms cut power to 80,000 southern Quebec homes. (Hydro-Québec Photo) |
Strong thunderstorms developed Sunday afternoon across northern New York and eastern Ontario, before moving northeast across the metro Montreal region. Winds gusted up to 87km/h at Trudeau Airport, knocking down tree branches and in the process cutting power to many homes and businesses. The West Island of Montreal was specially hard-hit, with frequent lightning strikes adding to the outages. A second line of storms affected the city around 10:45pm.
In all over 80,000 Hydro-Québec customers were left without power in the province at he height of the storms. The utility has over 100 crews working on the outage, and as of 9am Monday morning, the number of affected clients was down to 22,891.
The thunderstorms came at the end of what was a sweltering hot and humid weekend. Temperatures were either side of 30C (86F), with humidex values approaching 38C (100F). Temperatures are slightly cooler Monday, with plenty of cloud cover, but the airmass remains humid and unstable, and more thunderstorms are expected today and Tuesday. High temperatures will reach 24-27C (76-80F)
Much needed rain fell with the thunderstorms, with 24.2mm at Trudeau Airport, and generally 15 to 40mm across southern Quebec. The monthly total for Montreal now sits at 70.3mm, with most of that falling over just two days.
Skies will clear Wednesday, and humidity levels should lower a touch, but temperatures will remain warm at 28C (83F).
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