Series of winter storms expected to impact Montreal over the next week

Montreal has only had one significant winter storm this season, but that will change over the next week or so, with several systems headed this way. Snowfall late today and Sunday will amount to 5-10cm for the city. The storm on Wednesday is expected to produce mixed precipitation and very strong winds.

A series of winter storms will impact the Montreal region over the next week. If you have any travel plans play close attention to the latest forecasts.

Winter is set to return to southern Quebec this week, after a very mild and relatively quiet few weeks. For the third time this week, a few very light snow showers created black ice and numerous accidents during the evening commute on Friday. Only 0.4cm officially fell at Trudeau, but it was enough to ice roads.

Temperatures have fallen steadily overnight, and it is a chilly -9C (16F) early Saturday morning, with gusty northeast winds. The temperature will not budge today, but we will have some sunshine briefly, before clouds steam in from the south ahead of the next system.

A developing winter storm will move along the the eastern seaboard from Delaware to New England on Sunday, spreading a swath of snow across interior portions of the northeast. Montreal and the St. Lawrence Valley will remain on the northern edge of the system. That will still be enough to produce a good 5-10cm of snow from late this evening into Sunday morning. Accompanying the snow on Sunday will be gusty northeast winds of 30-50km/h. Expect slow travel and snow covered roads, something many drivers are clearly not use to this winter.

Snowfall amounts will increase as you head south across New York and New England, where winter storm warnings are in effect for 15-25cm. If your travel plans take you south, expect delays, as well as difficult highway travel. 

Once this storm move off into Atlantic Canada, high pressure will move in for Monday. Expect a return to sunshine, with daytime highs near -3C (27F).

By late Tuesday, the next storm in the line will be moving from Texas towards the Great Lakes, while strengthening significantly. We expect a potent major storm system near Buffalo, New York by Wednesday morning. This storm has the potential to produce heavy precipitation in the form of snow, freezing rain and rain across a wide swath of  Ontario and Quebec. There is also a major wind threat with this storm, with some models predicting wind gusts of over 100km/h. There are many details to work out based on the final track and strength of this storm, so stay tuned.