Brief cold snap delivers May frost and flurries to Montreal

Frost and freeze advisories are widespread across southern Quebec, Ontario and into New York and New England tonight as an unseasonably cold air mass is expected to drop temperatures below freezing. The record low for Montreal is -0.6C set in 1944.

Frost Advisory posted for southern Quebec

A strong cold front late Tuesday afternoon, has ushered in an unseasonably cold airmass into southern Quebec on Wednesday, with temperatures well-below normal values. Scattered frost was reported early Wednesday morning, especially north of Montreal. A more widespread frost is expected for Thursday morning, with expected lows between 0C (32F) and -3C (27F) forecast. Widespread frost and freeze advisories are in effect covering a large portion of southern Ontario, Quebec, New York and New England. Several hours of below freezing temperatures are possible away from the city. The growing season has started for many, so if you have flowers or plants outdoors, you may want to take precautions to protect them from the cold.

It is hard to see them, but those dark clouds were producing May flurries here on Ile Perrot during the noon hour on Wednesday. Much warmer weather is on the way. (Valley Weather Photo)

A few flurries were even observed at several locations today, including here on Ile Perrot during the noon hour. Clouds began to thin this afternoon allowing the mercury to reach 9C (49F) for the daytime high in Montreal. We just missed the record for the lowest maximum temperature for May 17, which was 8.7C set in 2007. The record low for tonight is -0.6C (31F) set in 1944, we definitely have a shot at that with our current forecast.

As far as snowfall goes, with just a few flurries today and nothing more, we fell short of the daily record of 1.8cm that was set in 1959.

Much warmer air is on the way, along with sunshine Thursday into early Saturday. High temperatures will rebound quickly, up to 16C (61F) Thursday and a summery high of 25C (77F) on Friday. Overnight lows will respond as well, 7C (45F) Friday morning and a warm 16C (61F) into Saturday morning.