A quick shot of snow fell early Thursday morning behind a strong cold front. The snow quickly iced roads leading to several accidents southwest of Montreal. Gusty west and southwest winds of 50-90km/h kept Hydro-Quebec crews busy. Another wind event is expected late Saturday. Wind warnings have been issued for Montreal. (Valley Weather Photo)
Wind warning posted for southern Quebec and southern Ontario
Lather, rinse, repeat. In what has become an all-too familiar pattern, we are in for more wet weather and strong winds Saturday, followed by another brief shot of cold air and flurries. This will be the third such system, with a fourth on tap for Tuesday before the pattern alters somewhat. Snow has been hard to find in southern Quebec this fall.
The storms have been punishing the Prairies over the course of the last month, with periodic snowstorms followed by brutal arctic air. Case in point this morning, as I write this, Winnipeg is -22C (-8F) while Montreal is at 5C. Over the last two morning, dozens of record lows have been set from Alberta to Manitoba.
Each storm system for the last two weeks has been travelling well north and west of Montreal, placing us solidly in the warm sector. That has been followed by potent cold fronts, with gusty winds and quickly dropping temperatures.
The current storm will do the same, lifting across the Great Lakes and into central Quebec. The cold front arrives late Saturday, preceded by a period of rain. Strong southwest winds will channel down Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Valley, reaching speeds of 60-90km/h by Saturday afternoon and evening. Widespread wind warnings are in effect from Windsor, Ontario to Montreal.
The wind will ease overnight but remain gusty in the 30-50km/h range into Sunday. Temperatures will be very mild Saturday, 8C (48F) in Montreal, falling to -6C (21F) overnight and remaining below freezing at -2C (30F) Sunday. A few flurries are possible overnight. We will repeat the same weather cycle on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, before colder air and perhaps a more significant snow event arrive next weekend.
The cold front last Wednesday, produced wind gusts up to 90km/h across southern Quebec. The wind caused some minor tree and structural damage as well power outages to more than 50,000 Hydro-Quebec customers. In addition to the wind, snow squalls early Thursday morning, put down a quick centimetre or two of snow in several locations including here on Ile Perrot. The snow quickly iced up roads leading to a rash of accidents, especially off-island to the west of Montreal.
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