Record-breaking warmth for southern Quebec

Despite the very warm temperatures in Montreal, the leaves continue to tumble from the trees in rapid fashion. This is to be expected in late October, and will only increase with the strong winds forecast for the St. Lawrence Valley over the next 24 hours. Winds will increase from the southwest today in advance of  cold front, gusting to 40km/h. They will back to the northwest on Thursday, gusting up to 60km/h. (ValleyWeather Photo)

Our spectacular second summer weather continues Wednesday across southern Quebec, with temperatures set to break another record for the date. The high is expected to reach 24C (76F) in Montreal, which will be enough to surpass the previous record of 21.5C (71F) established in 2012. This will continue the streak of sunny, warm days that have been in place since Saturday. The weather will be humid today as well, with a humidex reading approaching 29C (85F) this afternoon.

On Tuesday, the high at Trudeau Airport was an amazing 24.6C (77F), easily surpassing the record of 23.9C set in 1963. The St. Lawrence Valley has been sandwiched between weather systems all week, with a coastal low producing rain and fog southeast of our region, and a strong fall storm over the western Great Lakes. We have been treated to an extended period of sunny, warm days, and mild overnight temperatures. The low in Montreal Tuesday night was warmer than our average daytime highs for late October. The low Wednesday morning only dropped to 14.2C (56F) on Ile Perrot, well above the average low of 0C (32F).

While cooler weather is on the way for Thursday and the upcoming weekend, warmer temperatures are expected to return early next week. A cold front will sweep across southern Quebec this evening, accompanied by showers and gusty southwest winds. A second cold front will usher in chilly temperatures and 60km/h northwest winds on Thursday. Today's record warmth will be replaced by overnight lows near 6C (43F) in Montreal. The high on Thursday is forecast to be only 10C (50F).

At this time the weekend looks great with dry conditions and mild temperatures. Halloween looks mild, but with the chance of some showers.

There is no sign of any really cold temperatures or snowfall for southwestern Quebec at this time. The extended forecast through the first two weeks of November is for above-normal temperatures to persist.