Tornado near Rigaud - heavy rain, strong winds in Montreal

A video capture of the tornado near Rigaud, Quebec Monday afternoon. The storm did significant damage to at least 4 homes and a silo. Power was also knocked out across the region that borders the Ontario border along Highway 40.
(Credit: Peter Dunn) 

The team from the Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University in London, Ontario will be on the ground today near Rigaud, Quebec 70km west of Montreal, to confirm and rate yesterday afternoons tornado. Social media posts and eyewitness accounts show a tornado on the ground just west of Riguad around 5:30pm. 

The storm did considerable damage to 4 residence as well as a farm and silo. Thankfully no injuries were reported by the Rigaud Fire Department and the SQ. The tornado snapped trees and cut power to over 5000 Hydro-Quebec customers in the 40/417 corridor along the Ontario/Quebec border. Other communities impacted included Pointe-Fortune and Très-Saint-Rédempteur. This was the first confirmed tornado of the year in Quebec.

The tornado was part of an active weather day across eastern Ontario and far western Quebec, with several rounds of strong thunderstorms moving from south to north. The storms prompted numerous weather warnings, including several for tornadoes. Montreal was spared the strongest of the storms, but we did have several hours of heavy rain Monday evening, depositing a quick 20-30mm of precipitation across the island. Heavy rain also fell across the Laurentians, with 43mm at Saint-Jovite and 56mm at Mont-Tremblant.

Strong southeast winds of up to 80km/h occurred most of the day in the St. Lawrence Valley, creating havoc for Hydro-Quebec, as vegetation came in contact with power lines and transformers. Nearly 40,000 customers were without power, many in the Montreal region. As of 8:00AM Tuesday morning, the number was down to just over 8800.

The same storm responsible for Monday's severe weather will drag a cold front across southern Quebec Tuesday afternoon. Another round of showers and thunderstorms is expected, along with gusty southwest winds 30-50km/h. At this time, severe weather is not expected, but some of the thunderstorms could have small hail and heavy rain. Conditions will remain warm and muggy Tuesday, becoming less humid and cooler on Wednesday.