Spring snowstorm hammers southern Quebec

Heavy wet snow turned spring into a winter wonderland across southern Quebec Thursday morning. Nearly 25cm of snow has fallen in the city since last evening. The storm closed schools, caused numerous accidents and knocked power out to nearly one million hydro customers across Quebec, Ontario, New England and the northeastern US.  (Valley Weather Photo)

A powerful storm, the combination of an upper level low spinning over the Great Lakes and a Nor'Easter over Cape Cod gave Montreal a heavy dose of spring snow. Coming in what has otherwise been an easy winter, 25cm of heavy wet snow fell accompanied by 70km/h wind gusts. The wind and snow knocked power out to over 280,000 Quebec homes and businesses.

The storm started as rain late Wednesday, but as the temperature dropped from a high of 10C (50F) to the freezing point in just a few hours, the rain turned to snow. There was even a few rumbles of thunder overnight. More snow fell over the last 24 hours than in the entire month of March in Montreal. Only 17cm fell last month at Trudeau Airport. The snow fell fast, with visibility under 1km for nearly 7 hours in Montreal

The snow was heavy and wet, playing havoc with Hydro-Quebec's power grid on the anniversary of last years significant April ice storm. Over 1000 separate outages affected nearly 300,000 customers at the height of the storm Thursday morning, including 80,000 on the island of Montreal. That number is down to 165,000 as of 3:45 pm.

Numerous school boards decided to cancel classes for the day. There were dozens of accidents during the early morning hours, including a jackknifed tanker truck that forced the closure of the westbound Trans-Canada at Sources for several hours. Many motorist had already removed their snow tire after a record warm March.

With at least 15cm of snow falling today, April 4, a new daily record was established dating back to 1885 when 14cm fell. The storm had far reaching impacts, dumping snow across Ontario, New York and New England. The snow will taper to flurries on Friday, with a slow warming and clearing trend over the weekend. Winds will remain gusty over the next 24 hours. out of the northeast at 30-50km/h.